International  ffitomztian  Stories 

EDITED  BY 

WILLIAM  T.  HARRIS,  A.M.,  LL.D. 


VOLUME  XIIL 


INTERNATIONAL  EDUCATION  SERIES. 

EDITED  BY  W.  T.  HARRIS. 


IT  is  proposed  to  publish,  under  the  above  title,  a  library  for  teachers 
and  school  managers,  and  text-books  for  normal  classes.  The  aim  will 
be  to  provide  works  of  a  useful  practical  character  in  the  broadest  sense. 
The  following  conspectus  will  show  the  ground  to  be  covered  by  the  series  i 

I.— History  Of  Education,,  (A.)  Original  systems  as  ex- 
pounded by  their  founders.  (B.)  Critical  histories  which  set  forth  the 
customs  of  the  past  and  point  out  their  advantages  and  defects,  explain- 
ing the  grounds  of  their  adoption,  and  also  of  their  final  disuse. 

II.— Educational  Criticism,  (A.)  The  noteworthy  arraign 
ments  which  educational  reformers  have  put  forth  against  existing  sys 
terns :  these  compose  the  classics  of  pedagogy.  (B.)  The  critical  histories 
above  mentioned. 

III.— Systematic  Treatises  on  the  Theory  of  Edu- 
cation. (A.)  Works  written  from  the  historical  standpoint;  these, 
for  the  most  part,  show  a  tendency  to  justify  the  traditional  course  of 
study  and  to  defend  the  prevailing  methods  of  instruction.  (B.)  Works 
written  from  critical  standpoints,  and  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  revolu- 
tionary in  their  tendency. 

iy.— The  Art  Of  Education.  (A.)  Works  on  instruction 
and  discipline,  and  the  practical  details  of  the  school-room.  (B.)  Works 
on  the  organization  and  supervision  of  schools. 

Practical  insight  into  the  educational  methods  in  vogue  can  not  be 
attained  without  a  knowledge  of  the  process  by  which  they  have  come  to 
be  established.  For  this  reason  it  is  proposed  to  give  special  prominence 
to  the  history  of  the  systems  that  have  prevailed. 

Again,  since  history  is  incompetent  to  furnish  the  ideal  of  the  future, 
it  is  necessary  to  devote  large  space  to  works  of  educational  criticism. 
Criticism  is  the  purifying  process  by  which  ideals  are  rendered  clear  and 
potent,  so  that  progress  becomes  possible. 

History  and  criticism  combined  make  possible  a  theory  of  the  whole. 
For,  with  an  ideal  toward  which  the  entire  movement  tends,  and  an  ac- 
count of  the  phases  that  have  appeared  in  time,  the  connected  develop- 
ment of  the  whole  can  be  shown,  and  all  united  into  one  system. 

Lastly,  after  the  science,  comes  the  practice.  The  art  of  education  is 
treated  in  special  works  devoted  to  the  devices  and  technical  details  use- 
ful in  the  school-room. 

It  is  believed  that  the  teacher  does  not  need  authority  so  much  as  in- 
sight in  matters  of  education.  When  he  understands  the  theory  of  edu- 
cation and  the  history  of  its  growth,  and  has  matured  his  own  point 
of  view  by  careful  study  of  the  critical  literature  of  education,  then  he  is 
competent  to  select  or  invent  such  practical  devices  as  are  best  adapted 
to  his  own  wants. 

The  series  will  contain  works  from  European  as  well  as  American 
authors,  and  will  be  under  the  editorship  of  W.  T.  HARRIS,  A,  M.,  LL.  D. 


Vol.  t.  The  Philosophy  of  Education.    By  JOHANN  KARL  FRIED- 

KICH    ROSENKRANZ.       $1.50. 

Vol.  II.  A  History  of  Education.    By  Professor  F.  V.  N.  PAINTER, 

of  Eoanoke,  Virginia.     $1.50. 
Vol.  III.  The  Rise    and    Early  Constitution   of   Universities. 

With  a  Survey  of  Medieval  Education.  By  S.  S.  LAURIE,  LL.  D., 
Professor  of  the  Institutes  and  History  of  Education  in  the  University 
of  Edinburgh.  $1.50. 

Vol.  IV.  The  Ventilation  and  Warming  of  School  Buildings,, 
By  GILBERT  B.  MORRISON,  Teacher  of  Physics  and  Chemistry  in  Kan- 
sas City  High  School.  75  cents. 

Vol.  V.  The  Education  of  Man.  By  FRIEDRICH  FROEBEL.  Trans- 
lated from  the  German  and  annotated  by  W.  N.  HAILMANN,  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Schools  at  La  Porte,  Indiana.  $1.50. 

Vol.  VI.  Elementary  Psychology  and  Education.  By  JOSEPH 
BALDWIN,  Principal  of  the  Sam  Houston  State  Normal  School,  Hunts- 
ville,  Texas.  $1.50. 

Vol.  VII.  The  Senses  and  the  Will.  Observations  concerning  the 
Mental  Development  of  the  Human  Being  in  the  First  Years  of  JLife. 
By  W.  PREYER,  Professor  of  Physiology  in  Jena.  Translated  from 
the  original  German,  by  H.  W.  BROWN,  Teacher  in  the  State  Normal 
School  at  Worcester,  Mass.  Part  I  of  THE  MIND  OF  THE  CHILD.  $1.50. 

Vol.  VIII.  Memory.  What  it  is  and  how  to  improve  it.  By  DAVID 
KAY,  F.  R.  G.  S.  $1.50. 

Vol.  IX.  The  Development  of  the  Intellect.  Observations  con- 
cerning the  Mental  Development  of  the  Human  Being  in  the  First 
Years  of  Life.  By  W.  PREYER,  Professor  of  Physiology  in  Jena. 
Translated  from  the  original  German,  by  H.  W.  BROWN,  Teacher  in 
the  State  Normal  School  at  Worcester,  Mass.  Part  II  of  THE  MIND 
OF  THE  CHILD.  $1.50. 

Vol.  X.  How  to  Study  Geography.  By  FRANCIS  W.  PARILER. 
Prepared  for  the  Professional  Training  Class  of  the  Cook  County  Nor- 
mal School.  $1.50. 

Vol.  XI.  Education  in  the  United  States.  Its  History  from  the 
Earliest  Settlements.  By  RICHARD  G.  BOONE,  A.  M.,  Professor  of 
Pedagogy  in  Indiana  University.  $1.50. 

Vol.  XII.  European  Schools.  Or  what  I  saw  in  the  Schools  of  Ger- 
many, France,  Austria,  and  Switzerland.  By  L.  R.  KLEMM,  Ph.  D., 
Author  of  "  Chips  from  a  Teacher's  Workshop,"  and  numerous  school- 
books.  $2.00. 

Vol.  XIII.  Practical  Hints  for  the  Teachers  of  Public  Schools., 

By  GEORGE  HOWLAND,  Superintendent  of  the  Chicago  Schools.     $1.00. 

Vol.  XIV.  Pestalozzi :  His  Life  and  Work.  By  ROGER  DE  GUIMPS. 
Authorized  translation  from  the  second  French  edition,  by  J.  RUSSELL, 
B.  A.,  Assistant  Master  in  University  College  School,  London.  With 
an  Introduction  by  Rev.  R.  H.  QUICK,  M.  A.  $1.50. 

Vol.  XV.  School  Supervision.    By  J.  L.  PIOKARD,  LL.  D.    $1.00. 

Vol.  XVI.  Higher  Education  of  Women  in  Europe.  By  HELENE 
LANGE,  Berlin.  Translated  and  accompanied  by  Comparative  Statis- 
tics, by  L.  R.  KLEMM,  Ph.  D.  $1.00.  ' 

Vol.  XVII.  Essays  on  Educational  Reformers.  By  ROBERT  HE- 
BERT  QUICK,  M.  A.  Trin.  Coll.,  Cambridge,  Formerly  Assistant  Master 
at  Harrow,  and  Lecturer  on  the  History  of  Education  at  Cambridge, 
late  Vicar  of  Sedhergh.  Only  authorized  edition  of  the  work  as  rewrit- 
ten in  1890.  $1.50. 


INTERNATIONAL  EDUCATION  SERIES 


PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR 
THE  TEACHERS  OF  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


BY 

GEORGE   ROWLAND 

SUPERINTENDENT  OF  THE  CHICAGO  SCHOOLS 


NEW    YORK 
D.     APPLETON     AND     COMPANY 

1892 


& 


COPYRIGHT,  1889, 
BY  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY. 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 


THE  present  work  belongs  to  the  class  of  educational 
writings  that  deal  with  the  art  or  practice  of  teaching. 
It  treats  of  details  of  management.  In  onr  adopted 
classification,  it  falls  in  the  fourth  division,  coming  after 
(1)  history  of  education,  (2)  criticisms  and  reforms,  and 
(3)  the  theory  or  science  of  education. 

The  art  or  practice  of  education  of  course  presup- 
poses the  theory  of  education,  for  it  is  the  practical 
application  of  it.  But  while  theory  looks  at  the  sub- 
ject in  view  of  the  full  scope  of  all  its  possibilities, 
practice  singles  out  only  what  is  of  present  utility,  and 
neglects  the  rest.  Theory  aims  to  get  a  wider  and 
wider  view,  so  as  to  grasp  the  subject  in  all  its  bearings, 
and  contemplate  the  entire  range  of  possibility;  but 
practice,  on  the  other  hand,  strives  to  narrow  its  field  of 
view,  and  specialize  its  act  of  attention  to  the  situation 
that  is  actually  now  before  it. 

The  two  attitudes  of  mind  are  in  this  respect  op- 
posed to  each  other.  The  theoretic  shrinks  from  action, 
and  defers  it,  wishing  to  keep  the  question  open  till  all 
the  possible  phases  of  it  have  been  inventoried.  The 


yi  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

practical  attitude  desires  to  close  the  question,  and  de» 
cide  at  once  in  view  of  what  is  already  known. 

Doubtless  each  of  these  tendencies  is  one-sided  and 
incomplete,  but  each  has  advantages  within  its  sphere. 
Few  minds  are  nimble  enough  to  move  with  ease  from 
one  tendency  to  the  other.  For  the  most  part,  the 
teacher  who  is  theoretically  inclined  is  lame  in  the  re- 
gion of  details  of  work ;  while  the  practically  inclined 
grows  narrow-minded,  and  incompetent  to  seize  new 
truth.  Goethe's  aphorism  expresses  this :  "  Thought 
expands,  but  lames ;  action  narrows,  but  intensifies." 

Again,  if  the  theoretic  mind  undertakes  a  work  on 
art  or  practice,  it  is  apt  to  waste  much  energy  and  force 
in  an  attempt  to  be  exhaustive,  for  it  devotes  space  to 
considering  remote  possibilities  at  the  expense  of  more 
thoroughness  and  pertinence  in  the  treatment  of  those 
phases  that  concern  the  present  situation. 

The  best  books  on  art  and  practice,  therefore,  come 
from  those  writers  who  decline  to  enter  upon  the  ex- 
haustive consideration  of  their  theme ;  for  this  would 
imply  an  undue  expenditure  of  strength  on  remote  and 
unimportant  subjects.  They  select  rather  the  most 
essential  or  the  livest  questions,  and  attack  them  with  a 
zeal  so  intense  that  they  move  people  to  action.  For 
action  is  induced  by  concentration  of  the  mind  on  one 
phase  of  the  subject.  The  equal  contemplation  of  all 
phases  neutralizes  or  "  lames  "  action. 

That  our  author,  Mr.  Howland,  has  happily  chosen 
the  ten  topics  which  he  discusses  in  this  volume  with 
so  eminent  practical  wisdom  is  evident  from  the  fol- 
lowing mention  of  their  general  bearings. 

1.  Moral  training,  treated  in  Chapter  I,  for  example. 


EDITOE'S  PREFACE.  VJi 

is  the  ever-recurring  question  on  which  hinges  the  whole 
business  of  the  school. 

2.  The  character  of  the  teacher,  his  permanent  trend 
in  whatever  he  does,  is  another  hinge  on  which  the 
value  of  his  work  turns. 

3.  The  memory — how  much  or  how  little  it  shall  be 
trained  in  school-work,  treated  in  Chapter  III,  is  the 
most  important  question  in   educational    psychology. 
Excess  in  memorizing  produces  a  permanent  effect  on 
the  character  of  the  pupil,  giving  him  a  tendency  to 
follow  routine  and  to  conform  to  custom,  rendering  him 
obedient  to  authority,  and,  in  extreme  cases,  supersti- 
tious of  precedent  and  utterly  lacking  in  originality ; 
while  neglect  of  memory  and  the  cultivation  of  critical 
alertness  produces  bold,  inquiring  minds,  and,  in  ex- 
treme cases,  tending  to  impatience  of  all  authority,  hu- 
man and  divine,  and  thus  producing  inclination  toward 
revolution  or  even  anarchy. 

4.  Firmly  convinced  that  the  old  education  was  in 
error  in  laying  too  much  stress  on  the  memory,  the  new 
education  devotes  itself  to  arousing  the  power  of  think- 
ing and  independent  judgment,  and  therefore  lays  the 
greatest  stress  on  the  methods  of  inciting  self -activity  in 
the  child  of  the  primary  school. 

5.  As  a  topic  for  his  fifth  chapter,  Mr.  Howland 
considers  the  ideal  of  scholarship,  for  this  alone  enables 
us  to  determine  the  limits  proper  for  the  conservative 
memory-culture  as  well  as  for  the  radical  thought-cult- 
ure. 

6.  The  demeanor  of  the  teacher  is  almost  as  impor- 
tant as  his  character,  and  this  subject  is  treated  by  the 
author  with  eminent  sagacity. 


viii  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

7.  A  study  of  the  permanent  effect  of  seemingly  un- 
important actions  or  habits  in  confirming  or  neutraliz- 
ing good  precepts  renders  the  young  teacher  more  cir- 
cumspect. 

8.  The  class  recitation  is  the  central  agency  of  the 
teacher  for  regulating  the  mental  habits  of  the  child. 
By  the  questions  and  criticisms  of  the  teacher,  the  pupil 
learns  the  defects  of  his  own  method  of  study.    He  sees 
also,  in  the  recitations  of  his  fellows,  deficiencies  in  other 
directions  than  his  own,  and  this  experience  makes  him 
more  alert  in  preparing  the  next  lesson.     The  teacher 
thus  by  the  aid  of  the  recitation  helps  and  strengthens 
each  pupil's  mind  through  the  work  of  all  the  others. 
The  pupil  gains  new  self-knowledge,  and  learns  how  to 
re  enforce  his  own  perceptions  and  reflections  by  those 
of  his  fellows. 

9.  Next,  in  the  matter  of  supervision — the  relation 
of  the  head  teacher  to  his  subordinates — the  author 
shows  how  one  should   so   direct  and   control  as  to 
produce  more  and  more  ability  of  self-control  and  wise 
directive  power  on  the  part  of  his  assistants. 

10.  Finally,  the  book  is  appropriately  brought  to  a 
close  with  a  chapter  on  the   School  Superintendent, 
whose  work  is  to  help  each  teacher  by  adding  to  his 
(or  her)  stock  of  knowledge  and  skill,  the  fruits  of  the 
experience  of  all  the  other  teachers.     The  superintend- 
ent in  his  rounds  of  inspection  finds  devices  which  are 
used  effectively  by  the  teachers  who  have  discovered 
them  to  overcome  obstacles  of  one  kind  or  another  that 
are  encountered  in  the  discipline  or  instruction  of  the 
school.     By  calling  attention  to  these  he  may  aid  this 
or  that  teacher  who  has  not  yet  succeeded  in  mastering 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE.  jx 

the  situation  in  some  one  of  these  respects.  The  re- 
sult is  improvement  all  along  the  line  of  methods  of 
instruction,  discipline,  and  management.  The  good 
superintendent  continually  works  to  the  end  that  each 
teacher  shall  be  aided  by  the  best  devices  of  method 
discovered  by  the  entire  corps  of  teachers ;  and  by 
this  he  secures  constant  progress  in  the  schools  under 
his  charge. 

The  felicity  of  statement  in  many  of  these  chapters 
will  tempt  the  reader  to  turn  often  to  passages  like  the 
following,  wherein  moral  instruction  is  defined  as  not 
the  inculcation  of  a  moral  philosophy,  but  the  discipline 
under  which  pupils  "  acquire  a  power  of  self-control,  a 
command  of  their  affections,  passions,  and  desires,  with 
the  intent  and  will  to  direct  them  to  worthy  ends " ; 
or  to  such  passages  as  this  description  of  good  order  in 
the  school-room :  "  Not  that  fixed  and  monotonous 
routine,  enforced  by  the  mere  martinet  in  discipline, 
that  deadens  the  vital  force,  stifles  thought,  quenches 
generous  ambition,  and,  regarding  more  the  outward 
form  than  the  inner  life,  aims  only  at  uniformity,  though 
only  of  dullness  and  stupidity ;  but  that  quiet,  uncon- 
scious harmony  that  results  from  each  member  moving 
undisturbed  in  his  proper  sphere,  in  willing  conformity 
to  an  unfelt  but  all-controlling  power ;  no  rules  for  the 
sake  of  ruling,  no  friction  or  jarring  of  ill-adjusted 
parts — none  of  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  military 
display,  but  all  moving  on  to  the  attainment  of  a  desir- 
able end." 

The  fundamental  conviction  of  the  author  is  re- 
vealed in  this  definition  of  the  true  ideal  of  the  new 
education : 


X  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

"We  believe  in  the  new  education  as  we  believe  in 
a  new  tune,  though  it  contains  not  a  tone  that  was  not 
in  the  old,  despised  one.  We  believe  in  it  for  the  spirit 
of  humanity  underlying,  overlying  it,  inspiring  it,  which 
makes  the  child  its  subject,  its  untiring  study,  its  cease- 
less hope ;  for  its  truer  appreciation  of  the  child-nature 
in  its  restless  eagerness,  its  longings,  its  love  of  nature 
and  of  life,  and  its  ceaseless  striving  to  acquaint  itself 
with  its  powers,  its  capabilities,  and  its  surroundings ; 
and  for  the  wiser  presentation  of  subjects  suited  to  each 
stage  of  its  advance  and  development,  skillfully  guiding 
its  unrepressed  and  gladsome  activities  into  the  fruit- 
ful paths  of  experience  and  wiser  satisfactions,  turning 
aside  from,  the  dreary  waste  of  enforced  drudgery  into 
the  fresh  and  flowery  fields  of  earnest  because  curious 
effort;  and  we  believe  in  it  especially  for  the  better 
understanding  of  things  and  their  names,  its  nicer  ob- 
servation of  qualities  and  forms,  its  clearer  conception 
of  ideas,  and  its  finer  expression  of  thought." 

WILLIAM  T.  HARRIS. 
CONCORD,  MASS.,  June,  1889. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 


THE  several  chapters  of  this  volume  comprise  a 
series  of  papers  read  before  the  teachers  of  the  public 
schools  of  Chicago  and  vicinity,  and  were  prepared  with 
no  thought  of  publication,  but  solely  to  aid  the  teachers 
in  their  daily  and  hourly  work  in  the  interests  of  the 
children  who  throng  our  rooms. 

Though  in  no  sense  scientific  treatises,  they  are  the 
outgrowth  of  a  large  and  varied  experience  and  observa- 
tion in  the  school-room,  and  are  based,  it  is  believed, 
upon  correct  psychologic  principles. 

It  was  their  purpose  to  indicate  the  true  purpose  and 
spirit  of  the  public  school,  the  character  and  work  of 
the  teacher  and  her  relations  to  her  pupils,  the  proper 
sphere  and  duties  of  the  principal,  together  with  some 
suggestions  as  to  the  methods  best  suited  to  secure  the 
desired  end  and  make  up  the  real  life  of  the  school. 

To  rid  our  schools  of  the  old  dull,  dead  routine,  and 
make  them  the  living  fountain  of  health,  happiness, 
and  growth,  to  which  we  no  more  shall  see  the  school- 
boy "  creeping  like  snail  unwillingly,"  but  with  ear- 
nest, thoughtful  face,  hasting  as  to  a  new  discovery, 


xii  PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR   TEACHERS. 

Las  been  the  chief,  the  one  aim  of  the  author  of  these 
papers. 

Though  written  for  teachers  of  city  graded  schools, 
if  of  any  interest  or  worth,  the  principles  advanced  and 
advocated  are  equally  fitted  for  teachers  of  ungraded 
and  country  schools,  and  for  any  one  interested  in  the 
welfare  and  usefulness  of  our  schools  in  making  happier 
men  and  women  and  more  honest,  public-spirited,  and 
worthy  citizens. 

The  one  great  thing  needed  in  our  schools,  public  or 
private,  is  that  spirit  of  humanity  and  culture  which 
shall  make  their  life  healthful,  happy,  and  progressive, 
the  wellspring  of  an  upright,  true,  cultured  manhood 
and  womanhood,  and  a  willing,  working,  watchful,  and 
faithful  citizenship. 

GEOEGE  ROWLAND. 
CHICAGO,  September,  1889, 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I. — MORAL  TRAINING  IN  CITY  SCHOOLS 1 

II. — THE  CHARACTER  OP  THE  TEACHER 19 

III. — THE  PLACE  OP  MEMORY  IN  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION.  .  .  85 
IV. — THE  ELEMENTS  OP  GROWTH  IN  SCHOOL-LIFE  .  .  .54 

V, — THE  SCHOLARSHIP  AIMED  AT  IN  THE  SCHOOL  .  .  .69 

VI. — THE  TEACHER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM 89 

VII. — How  THE  SCHOOL  DEVELOPS  CHARACTER  .  .  .  .110 

VIII.— THE  CLASS  RECITATION 128 

IX. — THE  SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL 150 

X. — THE  WORK  OP  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT       .        .        .  175 


PKAOTIOAL  HINTS  FOR 
THE  TEACHERS  OF  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


i. 

MORAL   TRAINING  IN  CITY  SCHOOLS. 

THERE  are  currents  and  tides  of  thought,  as  well  as 
of  wind  and  wave — times  when  certain  topics  seize  upon 
the  public  mind,  and,  whether  we  will  or  not,  demand  a 
hearing. 

The  question  of  the  claims  and  the  usefulness  of  the 
higher  schools  is  fast  passing  away  with  the  hard  times, 
in  which  it  had  its  source,  and  from  the  ruins  of  fortune 
and  reputation  it  is  but  natural  that  men,  and  thinking 
men,  should  turn  to  search  for  the  springs  of  this  wide- 
spread desolation. 

And  if  the  decade  following  that  of  the  rapid  devel- 
opment of  the  high-school  system  in  our  land  be  that 
when,  above  all  others,  integrity  is  a  myth  and  honor  a 
by- word,  is  it  not  fair  to  dwell  there  for  a  little,  and 
examine  into  the  nature  and  workings  of  the  system, 
whether  there  be  a  deadly  taint  in  the  very  streams  that 
supply  our  homes,  our  counting-rooms,  our  temples  of 
justice,  and  from  which  we  fill  the  baptismal  fonts  upon 
our  altars  ?  We  need  not,  then,  be  surprised  or  dis- 
heartened, when  from  the  occupant  of  the  pulpit,  or  the 
platform,  or  the  editor's  chair,  come  complainings,  doubts, 
2 


2  PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

and  questionings  as  to  the  moral  training  of  our  public 
schools.  We  need  not  be  offended,  though  many  an  hon- 
est and  wondering  citizen,  listening,  in  ignorance  of  the 
cause,  to  their  clamor,  like  Gilpin's  neighbors,  thinking 
they  carry  weight,  cry  out,  "  Well  done  ! "  to  their  un- 
guided  and  unrestrained  career,  but  rather  should  we 
throw  wide  our  gates  to  let  them  pass,  glad  by  any  means 
to  learn  the  truth,  and  apply,  if  need  be,  a  remedy.  For 
in  a  land  like  ours,  if  the  public  school  has  any  leave  to 
be,  it  is  from  its  being  a  sure  and  efficient  helper  in  mak- 
ing intelligent,  industrious,  and  upright  citizens. 

It  were  easy  to  show,  if  such  were  the  purpose  of  the 
hour,  that  much  of  the  apparent  dishonesty  of  the  last 
few  years — the  unredeemed  promise,  the  broken  obliga- 
tion, the  violated  trust,  the  commercial  and  official  degra- 
dation— was,  in  a  manner,  forced  upon  unwilling  victims 
by  the  unyielding  laws  of  value,  as  estimated  by  a  worth- 
less measure — laws  by  which  the  enterprising,  the  public- 
spirited,  the  large-hearted,  were  not  seldom  the  first  and 
greatest  sufferers,  rudely  awakened  from  their  fevered 
dreams  of  uncoined  wealth  to  the  reality  of  want,  hope- 
lessness, and  dishonor. 

That  the  school,  by  the  quickening  of  the  intellect, 
and  the  inspiration  of  new  hopes  and  higher  aims,  may 
have  disturbed  the  rest  and  content  of  the  lowly,  we 
would  not  deny  ;  but  rather  claim,  and  glory  in  the  belief, 
that  every  child  of  the  school,  if  not  of  the  soil,  whether 
his  inheritance  be  reached  by  the  course  of  the  National 
Academy  or  by  the  tow-path,  is  born  to  a  birthright  of 
progress  and  honor. 

The  severest  censure  of  our  school  system  often  comes 
from  those  who,  in  acknowledged  ignorance  of  the  schools 
of  to-day,  speak  from  the  memories  of  their  own  experi- 
ence of  a  generation  ago,  seemingly  all  unconscious  of 


MORAL  TRAINING  IN  CITY  SCHOOLS.  3 

the  fact  that  the  school  has  kept  fully  abreast  of  the  ad- 
vance in  other  departments  of  social  and  moral  progress, 
of  which  their  own  charges,  if  rightfully  regarded,  would 
afford  the  most  conclusive  proof. 

A  few  weeks  since,  while  riding  with  a  friend  through 
the  suburbs  of  an  Eastern  city,  we  drew  up  our  horses 
upon  a  height,  from  which,  across  an  intervening  valley, 
we  had  a  full  view  of  the  busy  town  lying  beneath  a  sum- 
mer sky,  seemingly  embowered  by  green  groves,  with 
their  suggestion  of  soft  lawns,  cool  shades,  and  sparkling 
fountains,  and  the  sweet  scent  of  fresh  verdure,  with 
here  and  there  a  white  spire  pointing  through  to  the 
purer  blue  above,  and  with  the  outlying  farms  of  thrifty 
orchards  and  fields  of  grass  and  grain  almost  rivaling 
Lamartine's  picture  of  Damascus. 

My  friend  said  that  an  old  citizen,  long  familiar  with 
the  dusty  streets,  on  seeing  a  photograph  taken  from  the 
same  point  a  few  days  before,  had  remarked  that  the 
artist  must  have  had  a  vivid  imagination,  as  there  was 
nothing  of  the  kind  there. 

So,  as  with  a  sort  of  filial  tenderness  we  turn  our 
thought  to  the  old  home  and  school  of  our  early  days, 
the  green  memory  of  some  task  or  sport — some  new  book 
begun  or  old  one  finished,  some  hard  problem  solved,  the 
snow  fort,  with  the  gallant  assault  or  defense,  the  splen- 
did slide  down  the  long  hill-side,  the  brake  booth  by  the 
road,  or  perhaps  some  sweet,  childish  friendship — seems 
to  fill  the  whole  field  of  view,  and  it  is  with  a  sigh  of 
regret  that  we  compare  the  present  with  the  dear  old 
days. 

But  when  from  the  old  chest  in  the  garret  we  bring 
forth  a  fragment  of  the  old  thumb- worn,  dog-eared  book, 
from  which  the  cover,  as  we  quickly  recall,  was  torn  in  a 
physical  contest  of  the  master  with  one  of  the  big  boys, 


4:  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

and  turn  the  leaves  traced  with  our  frequent  autograph, 
the  pictures  colored  with  poplar-buds,  or  the  anther  of 
the  lily,  or,  as  we  turn  to  the  master's  copy,  from  which 
we  learned  to  write,  we  can  more  justly  fill  tip  the  pict- 
ure ;  and,  though  we  may  smile  at  the  awkward  figures 
with  their  grotesque  surroundings,  we  can  but  feel -that 
the  childhood  of  to-day  finds  itself  in  the  school-room 
upon  a  higher  moral  plane  and  subjected  to  better  meth- 
ods and  kindlier  influences. 

In  judging  of  the  moral  character  and  influence  of 
our  schools,  we  are  happily  freed  from  the  perplexing 
questions  that  divide  the  different  schools  of  philosophy 
and  embroil  the  metaphysician  and  the  scientist.  The 
cunningly  devised  theories  of  the  origin  of  our  ideas  of 
right  and  wrong — whether  an  original  endowment  or  a 
gradual  development — we  can  safely  leave  to  those  who 
are  preparing  a  system  of  ethics  or  moral  philosophy. 

But  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  remember  that  the  origi- 
nal of  the  word -"  moral "  indicates  a  custom,  a  habit, 
pointing  us  not  so  much  to  our  philosophic  belief  as  to 
the  conduct  of  life.  And  it  is  for  us  to  inquire,  not  whether 
we  teach  our  pupils  the  views  of  this  or  that  school,  but 
whether  they  do  acquire  a  power  of  self-control,  a  com- 
mand of  their  affections,  passions,  and  desires,  with  the 
intent  and  will  to  direct  them  to  worthy  ends  ;  whether, 
with  a  true  and  honest  purpose,  they  go  forth  from  our 
doors  with  a  greater  abhorrence  of  what  is  low  and  base, 
more  faithful  to  the  right,  more  sensitive  to  the  breath 
of  merited  blame  ;  whether,  in  regard  for  all  that  is  en- 
nobling, in  courtesy  to  their  equals,  in  respect  for  their 
superiors,  they  leave  us  better  than  they  came,  or  rather, 
I  would  say,  with  a  truer  respect  for  the  rights  of  all, 
even  their  inferiors.  For  to  his  superiors  the  boy,  ter- 
rible as  he  is,  is  respectful — not  to  his  superiors  in  posi- 


MORAL  TRAINING  IN  CITY  SCHOOLS.  5 

tion,  in  acquirements,  in  age,  but  in  the  essentials  of  true 
manhood  or  womanhood. 

And  the  keen  sagacity,  the  almost  intuitive  facility 
and  accuracy  with  which  a  class  of  boys  or  girls  will  de- 
termine the  quality  and  fix  the  position  of  a  new  teacher, 
might  well  put  to  the  blush  our  examining  committees 
and  superintendents,  with  their  nice  balancings  of  merits 
and  demerits,  and  summings  of  averages. 

Nor  are  we  to  judge  of  our  schools  by  now  and  then 
an  exceptional  case.  "  There  is  no  flock,  however 
watched  and  tended,"  of  which  we  are  always  sure, 
though  the  committee  of  the  National  Association  in 
July  report  no  graduate  of  a  high-school  yet  found  in  jail. 

The  school  is  not  the  only  force  working  within  and 
upon  the  pupil  during  the  school  age.  Even  with  the 
most  punctual  and  regular  in  attendance  not  more  than 
a  fourth  of  the  waking  hours  are  passed  under  the  teach- 
er's care.  And  who  can  tell  the  home  influences  of  many 
of  them,  their  associates  upon  the  street,  the  exhalations 
from  doorway,  and  basement,  and  window  ? 

Faithful  and  efficient  as  the  teacher  may  be,  there  are 
influences  and  examples  stronger  than  his  and  more  con- 
stant and  enduring.  "Let  me  make  the  ballads  of  a 
people,"  says  some  one  ;  but  with  how  much  more  truth 
might  it  be  said,  Give  me  the  first  six  years,  and  send  to 
what  school  you  will !  The  question  of  submission  or 
lawlessness,  of  truthfulness  or  falsehood,  of  deceit  or 
honesty,  is  decided,  we  believe,  for  most  children,  before 
they  are  supposed  capable  of  understanding  it. 

Not  from  the  school,  but  in  the  home,  do  children 
learn  their  first  lesson.  In  their  own  neighborhoods  are 
they  taught  to  look  for  wealth  without  work,  for  profit 
without  capital,  and  honors  without  honesty.  Teach 
contentment  and  industry  to  the  toiler  and  the  needy, 


6  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

with  the  palace  home  or  storied  warehouse  of  their  mates 
rising  before  their  gaze,  the  fruit  of  some  bold  venture  or 
fortunate  speculation  ?  Not  till  disappointment  has 
deadened  hope,  and  suffering  numbed  ambition,  will  they 
accept  the  lesson.  .  .  . 

Nowhere,  as  in  the  well-directed  school,  is  the  spirit 
developed  that  regards  character  above  surroundings, 
where  merit  is  rewarded  with  success,  and  honor  bestowed 
where  it  is  due  ;  and  never,  we  believe,  have  our  schools 
had  a  healthier  influence,  never  made  more  earnest  and 
successful  endeavor  for  uprightness  of  purpose,  or  been 
surrounded  or  pervaded  by  a  purer  or  more  life-giving 
atmosphere. 

In  their  very  constitution  are  found  the  most  efficient 
means  for  inducing  a  well-ordered  life.  If  order  is 
Heaven's  first  law,  it  must  be  the  first  and  abiding  rule  of 
the  school ;  not  that  fixed  and  monotonous  routine  en- 
forced by  the  mere  martinet  in  discipline,  that  deadens 
the  vital  force,  stifles  thought,  quenches  generous  ambi- 
tion, and,  regarding  more  the  outward  form  than  the 
inner  life,  aims  only  at  uniformity,  though  only  of  dull- 
ness and  stupidity,  but  that  quiet,  unconscious  harmony 
that  results  from  each  member  moving  undisturbed  in  his 
proper  sphere,  in  willing  conformity  to  an  unfelt  but  all- 
controlling  power ;  no  rules  for  the  sake  of  ruling,  no 
friction  or  jarring  of  ill-adjusted  parts,  none  of  the  pomp 
and  circumstance  of  military  display,  but  all  moving  on 
to  the  attainment  of  a  desirable  end. 

We  may  all  recall  such  instances,  as  far  removed  from 
the  hushed  stillness  and  bated  breath  of  the  one  extreme, 
as  from  the  restless,  noisy  turbulence  of  the  other — an 
order  which  of  itself  is  "  able  almost  to  change  the  stamp 
of  nature,"  and  is  no  insignificant  factor  in  forming  the 
character  of  a  peaceful,  law-abiding  citizen. 


MORAL   TRAINING   IN  CITY  SCHOOLS.  ^ 

But  the  most  harmonious  order,  pleasing  though  it  be, 
is  of  itself  but  a  passive,  fruitless  virtue — but  the  casket 
whose  golden  ornaments  and  satin  lining  furnish  no  suffi- 
cient reason  for  its  being,  till  the  jewels  are  placed  within 
— but  the  well-founded  structure,  where  the  whirring 
wheels  of  a  busy  industry  are  still  to  be  put  in  motion. 

And  from  the  initiation  of  the  inchoate  man  or  woman 
of  presumably  six  years  into  all  the  mysterious  possibili- 
ties of  slate  and  pencil,  through  the  little  round  of  pre- 
requisites of  a  high-school  diploma,  the  pupils  of  a  wisely 
planned  school  are  learning  lessons  of  patient,  persevering 
industry.  Despite  the  idle  charges  often  made,  it  is  not 
from  our  school-rooms  that  the  lounging  squads  of  the 
saloons  are  recruited,  or  the  street-corners  replenished. 
A  search  for  the  graduates  of  our  high  and  grammar 
schools  would  lead  us  through  the  stores,  the  workshops, 
the  counting-rooms,  and  the  public  or  private  offices  of 
our  city — to  the  records  of  boards  of  education,  or  into 
many  a  cultivated,  happy  home.  And  in  this  day  of  in- 
vention who  can  blame  them,  if,  instead  of  finding  our 
sons  delving  in  the  dirt  amid  the  horny-handed  laborers, 
we  see  them,  with  upright  form  and  comely  attire,  with 
steam  and  electricity  to  do  their  bidding,  guiding  and 
controlling  a  broader  industry  and  higher  interests  ? 

If  a  habit  of  intelligent  and  productive  industry  be 
not  the  parent  of  moral  virtues,  it  is,  at  least,  their  foster- 
mother  and  most  approved  nurse. 

And  surely  it  can  not  be  that  the  intellectual  culture 
of  the  school,  small  and  imperfect  as  it  is,  the  history  of 
the  past,  the  rise  and  fall  of  individuals  and  nations,  with 
the  open  or  more  hidden  causes,  the  unbarring  the  gates 
of  science  and  pointing  them  to  the  boundless  and  rich 
fields  beyond,  the  unsealing  of  the  wisest  thought  and  the 
truest  sentiment  of  the  deepest  thinkers  and  divinest 


8  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

poets  of  the  ages — it  surely  can  not  be  that  all  this  is  de- 
void of  meaning  for  the  moralist.  We  sometimes  tire  of 
listening  to  the  dangers  of  intellectual  without  moral 
education.  The  performing  horse  and  trained  dog  may, 
perhaps,  feel  no  special  stirring  of  their  moral  nature,  but 
we  are  not  made  up  of  two  so  distinct  natures,  that, 
farther  apart  than  the  Siamese  twins,  the  one  can  be 
wrought  upon,  and  the  other  feel  no  sympathetic  throb. 
The  child  may,  indeed,  be  taught  to  lie  and  steal,  but 
that  is  not  what  we  mean  by  mental  discipline  and  in* 
tellectual  culture.  It  is  rather  a  maiming  and  torturing 
of  the  spirit.  As  well  might  we  call  the  foot-bandaging 
of  the  Chinese  an  athletic  exercise,  and  Simeon  Stylites  a 
gymnast ;  yes,  and  the  warped  and  shrunken  starveling, 
or  the  phenomenal  and  gormandizing  Tanner,  a  professor 
of  gastronomy. 

No  ;  the  order,  the  industry,  and  the  culture  of  our 
schools,  though  indirect,  and  often  unconscious,  are  yet 
efficient  and  ever-present  moral  influences,  which  we  can 
not  well  overestimate. 

Nor  is  the  school  wanting  in  that  more  direct  and 
positive  teaching  and  guidance  that  promote  and  estab- 
lish a  well-ordered  life  and  character ;  not  always  or  most 
frequently  given  in  the  set  phrase  of  formal  discourse  and 
threadbare  homily.  It  was  not  by  permission,  but  by  an 
undoubted  inspiration,  that  Paul  spoke  of  the  "  foolish- 
ness of  preaching."  Though  made  the  means  of  "  saving 
those  that  believe,  "the  trouble  is  that  the  school-boy  does 
not  believe — in  preaching,  or  in  the  teacher  that  preaches. 

Well  do  I  recall  one  such  in  my  school  life,  who  set 
apart  his  regular  half-hour  for  so-called  moral  instruc- 
tion ;  and  if  there  was  a  half -hour  in  the  day  in  which  he 
wasted  words,  squandered  the  esteem,  forfeited  the  re- 
spect, and  lost  the  control  of  his  pupils,  it  was  that  same 


MORAL   TRAINING  IN  CITY  SCHOOLS.  9 

moral  half-hour.  It  was  the  appointed  time  for  restless- 
ness, inattention,  and  disorder,  when  the  exhausted  pa- 
tience of  his  hearers  found  relief  in  whispered  if  not  in 
muttered  complaint,  from  which  a  wiser  man  might  have 
learned  that  it  is  not  all  of  morals  to  moralize. 

Noble  as  are  the  unquestioned  motives  of  those  who 
would  introduce  a  text-book  of  morals  for  a  half-hour  of 
each  day,  we  can  but  feel  that,  beneath  the  tender  memo- 
ries of  their  young  days,  a  closer  search  would  somewhere 
reveal  an  hour  made  irksome  and  unprofitable  by  that 
bane  of  a  bright  boy's  life — a  moral  lecture. 

The  good  old  days  of  our  fathers  and  mothers,  when 
the  pastor  appropriated  the  last  half -day  of  each  week  to 
instruction  in  the  catechism,  was  not  far  back  of  the  time 
of  Deacon  Giles's  famous  distillery  ;  and  when  the  prac- 
tice passed  away,  it  was  no  exception  to  the  law  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest.  And  even  in  the  reading  of  the 
Scripture  it  is  by  no  means  certain  that  within  the  sol- 
emn covers  may  not  lie  concealed  a  leaf  of  Caesar  or  Le- 
gendre. 

The  trouble  with  the  dishonest  and  the  vicious  is  not 
so  often  their  ignorance  of  the  true  and  the  right,  as  their 
failure,  through  neglect  or  evil  example,  to  have  formed 
those  habits  of  thought  and  action  which  constitute  a 
well-ordered,  a  self-controlled,  a  moral  character  and  life. 

That  we  have  attained  the  limit  of  moral  excellence, 
or  are  doing  all  that  can  be  expected,  we  do  not  believe, 
and  certainly  do  not  hope.  It  has  been  said  that,  when 
any  work  is  completed,  all  real  interest  begins  to  abate. 
It  is  only  in  the  progress,  the  pursuit,  that  the  earnest 
zeal,  the  ardor,  or  the  deep  interest  is  aroused  and  held 
fast. 

But  it  is  not  to  the  stated  lecture,  or  the  carefully  de- 
vised manual,  that  we  would  most  securely  trust  for  im- 


10  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

provement.  Our  memory  and  experience  point  rather  to 
the  quiet  suggestion,  the  fitly  chosen  word,  the  interested 
inquiry,  the  look,  the  unfeigned  sympathy,  the  favored 
opportunity,  the  firm  but  calm  decision  of  the  loved  and 
loving  teacher. 

First,  and  best  of  all,  would  we  look  to  the  personal 
character  and  example  of  the  true,  the  large-hearted, 
right-minded  man  or  woman. 

Perhaps  I  can  not  better  express  my  thought  than  as 
I  have  elsewhere  written,  of  this  personal  influence,  which 
is  the  test  and  the  crowning  excellence  of  the  true  teacher 
— an  influence  unseen,  perhaps,  and  unobtrusive,  but  all- 
pervading  ;  free  from  the  slightest  taint  of  distrust  or  sus- 
picion, but  checking  insubordination  before  the  thought 
of  it  has  taken  form  ;  exacting  a  faithful  performance  of 
duties,  yet  encouraging  by  its  inspiration  before  despond- 
ency has  attained  a  conscious  existence  ;  soft  and  gentle 
as  a  mother's  hand  on  the  brow  of  a  sick  child,  yet  hold- 
ing the  reins  of  authority,  and  controlling  the  very  mo- 
tives of  action,  like  the  hand  of  Fate. 

For  the  due  and  full  exertion  of  this  influence  we  need 
to  realize  that,  as  teachers,  we  are  engaged  in  the  forma- 
tion and  development  of  character,  into  the  warp  or  woof 
of  which  all  the  habits  thoughtlessly  formed,  the  modes 
of  feeling,  the  pupils'  deportment  toward  their  teachers 
or  toward  each  other,  the  kindly  way  or  the  uncouth  man- 
ner, the  listlessness  or  attention,  the  polite  address  or  the 
unseemly  reply,  are  all  daily  and  hourly  inwrought  in  per- 
manent outline  and  unfading  colors. 

As  compared  with  the  life-giving,  soul-saving  influ- 
ence of  such  a  teacher,  what  were  the  dull  routine  of  a 
daily  half -hour  of  blundering  monotony  over  the  cold  and 
dismal  abstractions  of  some  closet-conned  and  primer- 
planned  system  of  morals  ? 


MORAL  TRAINING  IN  CITY  SCHOOLS.  H 

Bishop  Huntington,  in  1880,  spoke,  with  eloquent 
words  of  censure,  of  parents  consulting  the  wishes  of  their 
children,  whose  wishes  and  choice  they  should  themselves 
control ;  but  such  a  personal  influence  as  I  have  indi- 
cated, like  the  breath  of  heaven,  penetrates  the  soft  text- 
ure of  the  child's  nature,  quickening  and  shaping  the  very 
promptings  of  desire. 

We  can  conceive  no  more  sacred  duty,  or  one  which, 
with  an  eye  to  the  public  weal,  should  be  performed  with 
more  wisdom  and  care,  free  from  bias  or  prejudice,  than 
that  of  choosing  the  teachers  of  our  public  schools.  Suit- 
able means  and  appliances  are  desirable  ;  books  for  study 
and  reference,  worthy  of  our  most  intelligent  regard  ;  but 
we  may  safely  leave  all  this  to  chance,  or  the  whim  of  the 
hour,  if  sure  in  the  choice  of  the  intelligent,  cultivated, 
and  worthy  teacher,  of  generous,  sympathizing  character, 
as  essential  to  the  mental  and  moral  growth  of  his  pupils 
as  are  good  light  and  pure  air  to  their  bodily  health. 
What  a  parody  on  the  highest  of  callings,  the  reasons  daily 
urged  for  engaging  in  it ! — a  sick  husband,  brother,  or 
child  ;  my  mother  a  widow  ;  my  wages  insufficient ;  have 
been  unfortunate  in  business  ;  I  should  be  benefited  by  a 
change ;  want  an  opportunity  to  review  my  studies  ;  need 
rest  before  engaging  in  my  profession  ;  think  I  should  like 
Chicago — in  all  the  endless  variety  into  which  these  types 
may  be  developed. 

Thankful  may  we  be  that  from  the  ranks  of  the  weary, 
the  needy,  the  changeling,  the  improvident,  the  unfortu- 
nate, so  few  of  the  unworthy  have  found  a  refuge  in  our 
school-rooms. 

In  the  management  and  discipline  of  the  school,  not- 
withstanding the  doubts  and  forebodings  of  individuals, 
and  notwithstanding  the  example  and  protests  of  our  wise 
Eastern  brethren,  we  believe  that  the  prohibition  of  cor- 


12  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

poral  punishment  is  a  real  forward  step  in  the  moral 
training  of  our  schools.  It  may  be  questioned  whether 
such  chastisement  is  ever  inflicted  by  the  thoughtful 
teacher,  or  parent,  without  an  after-sentiment  of  regret 
or  shame,  from  the  feeling  that,  after  all,  it  was  but  a 
victory  of  brute  force,  simply  because  he  was  the  stronger, 
and  mast  have  ended  in  the  same  way  even  if  the  child 
had  been  in  the  right.  "  Do  you  know  why  I  whip  you  ?  " 
asked  a  fond  father  of  his  little  son.  "  Yes,  sir,  because 
you  are  the  biggest."  And  not  unfrequently  there  is  a 
rude  awakening,  on  one  or  both  sides,  of  the  mere  animal 
nature,  insensible  alike  to  the  claims  of  right  or  reason. 
But  cut  off  from  this  ready  resort,  the  difficulty  of  the 
situation  often  necessitates  a  timely  delay  and  a  more 
careful  examination,  a  study  of  the  child's  character  and 
needs,  resulting  in  a  calmer  and  juster  decision  and  treat- 
ment, and  certainly  leaves  the  teacher  less  open  to  the 
suspicion  of  angry  or  revengeful  motives.  A  suggestion 
need  not  always  be  given  in  the  form  of  a  reproof,  and  in 
cases  of  deserved  censure  it  will  be  found,  in  most  in- 
stances, more  wholesome  if  administered  in  private.  A 
spirited  boy  of  ten  or  fifteen,  called  up  for  rebuke  in  the 
presence  of  his  mates,  all  watching  with  eager  interest, 
and  to  whose  opinion  of  his  brave  and  manly  bearing  he 
is  keenly  alive,  and  the  same  boy  listening  to  the  quiet, 
earnest,  and  kindly  words  of  his  teacher,  with  none  of  his 
companions  near,  or  knowing  of  the  interview,  are  two 
very  different  characters,  in  whose  judgment  the  role  of 
the  teacher,  too,  is  greatly  changed.  What  in  the  one 
case  was  the  harsh,  unfeeling  censor,  to  whom  concession 
savored  of  cowardice,  is,  in  the  other,  the  feeling  and 
judicious  friend. 

NOT  is  it  always  the  pupil  most  familiar  with  the  rules 
of  kindness  and  courtesy  at  home  who  most  readily  re- 


MORAL  TRAINING  IN  CITY   SCHOOLS.  13 

spends  to  the  voice  of  reason.  And  among  the  sweetest, 
the  most  genuine  pleasures  of  these  later  years,  I  count 
the  thanks,  sometimes  mingled  with  regrets,  of  the 
troublous,  bothersome  boys  of  old. 

And  of  the  eight  or  ten  whom  I  would  recall  as  the 
phenomenally  bad  boys  of  school,  I  do  not  know  of  one 
who  is  not  to-day  a  useful  and  respected  citizen,  though 
some  of  them  drew  upon  our  stock  of  patience  and  for- 
bearance to  the  very  verge  of  bankruptcy. 

There  are  those,  I  am  aware,  to  whom  all  this  is  a 
dead  language ;  who,  at  the  suggestion  of  kindness,  un- 
derstand weakness,  and  for  politeness  imagine  only  a 
sickly  sentimentality,  ever  ready  with  the  reply  that  they 
could  be  easy,  as  well  as  any  one,  in  not  correcting  faults, 
or  insisting  upon  good  lessons,  their  very  excuses  showing 
an  utter  want  of  apprehension  of  what  is  intended.  I 
would  abate  no  jot  of  any  healthful  requirement,  but  only 
ask  for  a  prompter  because  a  willing  obedience ;  and 
more  thorough  preparation,  because  a  work  of  the  heart 
as  well  as  the  head. 

A  command  may  be  in  order  in  the  prison  or  the  bar- 
racks, but  in  the  school,  as  ill  the  family,  never,  except 
as  a  kind  of  punishment.  At  the  stern  order  to  "  take 
my  hand  out  of  my  pocket,"  what  a  strange  yearning  ran 
tingling  down  to  the  very  ends  of  my  fingers,  till  the 
blood  seemed  to  settle  under  the  nails — an  inextinguish- 
able yearning  for  the  bottom  of  that  pocket  ! 

You  have  no  time,  you  say,  amid  the  press  of  school 
duties,  to  waste  on  mere  forms  of  polite  phraseology? 
What !  no  time  to  be  a  lady  or  a  gentleman  ?  Then  you 
have  no  place  in  the  teacher's  chair,  whose  occupant 
should  never  be  aught  else. 

And  when  all  efforts  prove  futile,  and  the  benefit  to 
the  pupil  becomes  hopelessly  incommensurate  with  the 


14:  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

harm  his  presence  brings  upon  the  school,  let  him  be  be- 
comingly remitted  to  the  care  of  his  legal  and  responsible 
guardian,  to  whose  natural  or  parental  instincts  we  may 
assume,  as  the  law  has  done,  the  charge  may  be  more 
safely  confided.  In  the  school-room,  and  within  his  own 
domain,  the  teacher  stands  in  his  own  right,  and  will 
wisely  omit  those  functions  which  only,  as  installed  in 
loco  parentis,  he  is  allowed  to  exercise. 

I  am  aware  of  the  heresy,  to  some  minds,  of  these 
views,  but  am  trying  to  present  what  seems  to  me  the 
only  true  basis  for  the  teacher's  authority — that  his 
powers  inhere  of  right  in  his  office,  whatever  dicta  to  the 
contrary  may  be  burrowed  from  among  the  dusty  de- 
cisions of  forgotten  judges.  We  need  not  that  any  pa- 
rentis locus  should  be  assigned  us  by  the  hocus-pocus  of 
legal  or  judicial  legerdemain,  nor  would  we  extend  the 
limits  of  our  domain  beyond  their  natural  bounds.  We 
believe  that  school-grounds  are  defined,  as  any  other 
grounds,  by  their  legal  boundaries,  and  that  if  the  unruly 
urchin  breaks  his  neighbor's  windows,  or  pilfers  his  pea- 
nut-stand, on  the  way  to  or  from  school,  the  sufferer 
should  look  to  the  parent  for  redress  ;  and  that,  in  case  of 
accident  or  harm,  the  parent,  and  not  the  teacher,  should 
employ  the  physician  and  pay  the  nurse.  But  we  also 
believe  that  whatever  exerts  a  baneful  influence  upon  the 
school,  or  serves  to  bring  it  into  disrepute,  whether  done 
within  the  precincts  of  the  school-yard,  upon  the  neigh- 
bor's grounds,  "or  in  the  continuous  woods  where  rolls 
the  Oregon,"  comes  under  the  legitimate  cognizance  of 
the  teacher,  who,  in  the  jealous  care  of  his  charge,  may 
counsel,  censure,  or  condemn. 

But  why  the  school-grounds  should  extend  to  the 
father's  door,  rather  than  the  home  circle  expand  to  the 
school  entrance,  is  to  us  a  mystery. 


MORAL  TRAINING  IN  CITY  SCHOOLS.  15 

The  parent  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  providing 
clothing,  food,  shelter,  and  home-training,  and  is  re- 
sponsible to  society  for  any  neglect ;  and  under  a  like  re- 
sponsibility is  the  teacher  charged  with  his  mental  and 
moral  training  at  school.  The  duties  and  the  rights  of 
the  one,  within  his  province,  are  as  sacred  and  original, 
we  apprehend,  as  the  other. 

What  is  to  be  gained  by  this  assumption  of  another's 
part,  which,  by-the-way,  is  never  urged,  as  we  remember, 
except  as  involving  the  right  to  maul,  maim,  or  mangle — 
a  right  that  teachers  or  parents  desirous  of  exercising  it 
should  be  left  to  maintain  with  their  best  blows  upon 
each  other,  with  the  children  behind  to  prick  and  goad 
them  on? 

As  to  the  proper  treatment  of  specific  cases,  and,  in 
truth,  as  to  general  management  and  instruction,  there  is 
no  rigid,  unvarying  method  suited  to  all  individuals,  or 
to  the  same  individual  at  all  times.  But  for  those  fitted 
by  culture,  character,  and  disposition  to  be  teachers, 
within  certain  limits,  on  which  all  thoughtful  experience 
agrees,  their  usefulness  is  largely  increased  by  a  large 
infusion  of  their  own  personality ;  and,  we  fancy,  the 
weightiest  charge  that  can  be  brought  against  normal 
schools  is,  that  their  pupils  are  so  often  charged  and  over- 
charged with  the  idea  that  theirs  is  the  way,  and  the  only 
way,  and  hence  their  unwillingness  to  adapt  themselves 
to  their  situation  and  surroundings,  impervious  to  the 
advice  and  counsels  of  their  associates  or  superiors. 

But,  if  there  be  one  thing  never  to  be  lost  sight  of,  it 
is  that  somehow  the  children  should  be  interested  in  their 
work.  The  only  point  that  Colonel  Parker  insists  upon, 
and  the  one  that  makes  the  thought  of  school  a  delight 
to  every  parent's  heart,  is  that  the  school  shall  be  made 
pleasant  to  the  children  ;  that  they  may  no  longer  "creep 


16  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

like  snail  unwillingly  to  school/'  but  that  the  subjects 
shall  be  so  vivified  and  so  presented  that  a  necessary  ab- 
sence shall  be  a  day  of  pleasure  lost.  Many  a  boy  has 
doubtless  been  made  a  worthless  if  not  a  dangerous  mem- 
ber of  society  by  the  irksomeness  of  his  school-days. 

Jt  is  not  alone  by  enforced  restraint  that  these  little 
bundles  of  activities  are  to  be  brought  into  relations  of 
harmony  and  usefulness.  Not  more  eager  for  what  is  new 
were  Paul's  hearers  on  Mars  Hill  than  they.  Of  quick 
discernment,  of  keen  insight,  and  small  respect  for  sham 
and  pretense,  they  have  not  learned,  as  we,  by  long  pupil- 
age, to  sit  contented  with  teachings  they  do  not  under- 
stand, or  to  keep  step  to  music  not  in  unison  with  their 
young  heart-beats. 

Along  the  paths  of  learning,  as  well  as  in  the  world's 
highway,  they  do  not  follow  kindly  the  straight  and  beaten 
track,  but  soon  pull  away  from  the  hand  that  leads  them, 
now  picking  berries  by  the  road-side,  now  in  the  field  with 
hat  in  hand,  in  full  chase  of  some  bright  butterfly,  and 
again  bending  down  to  paddle  in  the  pebbly  brook  ;  and 
he  is  the  wiser  guide  who,  yielding  somewhat  to  their 
wild  humors,  brings  them  in  at  the  end,  weary,  it  may 
be,  but  with  many  a  little  lesson  learned  and  childish 
treasure  garnered. 

Kindly  and  wisely  to  gather  up  these  wild  and  chang- 
ing humors,  and,  without  subduing  the  spirit  or  abat- 
ing the  ardor,  to  unite  them  in  one  grand  earnest  pur- 
pose of  life,  is  not  the  work  of  a  novice  or  a  trained 
dullard. 

Too  often,  I  fear,  we  send  forth  even  our  best  pupils 
with  no  aim  beyond  the  diploma,  no  ambition  but  for  the 
high  mark,  who,  when  the  pressure  of  the  class-room  is 
lifted,  float  aimlessly  out  of  the  sparkling  current  of 
progress,  like  the  bits  of  drift-wood  that  we  see  on  the 


MORAL  TRAINING  IN  CITY  SCHOOLS.  17 

scum-covered  pool  below  the  busy  mill  of  our  New  Eng- 
land streams. 

We,  too,  as  teachers,  need  to  keep  ourselves  in  line 
and  sympathy  with  the  world's  advance,  and  not,  like 
Hamlet,  with  the  ghost  of  some  dead  past  forever  rising 
before  us,  permit  it  to  chill  our  warm  impulse,  and  hold 
us  back  from  all  worldly  endeavor  and  achievement. 

We,  too,  need  to  join  our  strength  and  share  our  coun- 
sels with  those  of  our  own  calling.  We  need  to  preserve 
so  much  of  youth  in  our  hearts  as  to  find  beauty  and 
music  in  the  floating  butterfly  and  the  babbling  brook  of 
boyhood. 

There  are  leaders  and  teachers  among  us,  whose  spoken 
or  written  thought  we  may  not  ignore.  There  is,  too, 
the  poetry,  the  science,  the  philosophy,  the  art,  the  his- 
tory, the  romance  of  our  own  and  other  days  around  us 
that  we  may  not  neglect.  And  it  may  well  be  matter  of 
astonishment  how  few  are  the  fruits  and  flowers,  from  any 
of  these  sources,  that  may  not  be  put  to  use  in  our  daily 
work,  in  suggestion,  in  striking  example,  in  apt  illus- 
tration, in  encouragement,  in  instruction. 

And  some  such  allurement  is  ofttimes  required  to 
draw  us  out  of  ourselves,  to  relieve  that  depression  and 
weariness,  that  sinking  of  heart,  that  sometimes  come  on 
us,  when  the  day's  work  is  over,  and  we  feel  exhausted  of 
our  electric  force  by  five  hours'  contact  with  threescore 
bristling  fragments  of  humanity. 

When  all  else  fails,  and  "this  whole  round  world 
seems  flat,  stale,  and  unprofitable,"  as  a  sure  and  safe 
resource  there  is  nothing  for  health,  strength,  and  rec- 
reation, like  a  good,  reliable  hobby.  Though  it  be  noth- 
ing rarer  or  more  costly  than  moth-hunting,  the  jingle 
or  jangle  of  rhymes,  or  even  reformed  spelling,  they  are, 
some  of  them,  as  I  well  know,  of  boundless  possibilities. 
3  OP  THE 


18  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

But  at  your  daily  mount  of  your  hobby-horse,  take 
not  your  way  down  the  crowded  street,  and  through  the 
thronging  mart,  nor  over  the  choice  flower-beds  and 
fragrant  exotics  of  your  friends ;  but  rather  turn  aside 
into  the  quiet  lane,  or  the  unfrequented  country  road, 
or,  still  better,  off  for  a  free  stretch  over  the  wide,  open 
prairie,  where,  with  tossing  arms  and  expanding  chest, 
you  can  shout  forth  your  happiness,  till  with  loud-an- 
swering echo,  the  solitary  places  shall  be  made  glad  with 
your  presence. 

Still  onward  till  your  beast  and  yourself  are  weary,  and 
returning,  see  that  he  is  well  groomed  and  stalled,  and  in 
due  time  properly  fed,  in  preparation  for  another  day,  and  it 
may  be  the  coming  age  will  raise  to  you  and  it  a  monument. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  leaving  to  the  philosopher 
the  abstruse  questions  of  thought,  and  without  trenching 
upon  the  beliefs  or  prejudices  of  any  respectable  portion 
of  society,  we  have  in  our  public  schools  the  most  certain 
and  most  efficient  agencies  for  the  moral  culture  of  the 
young ;  the  habit  of  quiet  order,  the  diligent  industry, 
the  systematic  method,  and  above  all,  or  rather  the  pledge 
and  security  for  all,  the  generous,  the  disciplined,  the 
cultured,  the  ever-progressive  teacher,  one  whom  we  would 
gladly  receive  into  our  homes  as  companions,  and  as  guides 
and  guardians  of  our  children. 

In  the  mutual  rights  and  duties  of  the  family  and 
social  relations,  the  rights  of  the  child,  we  believe,  are 
paramount.  If  the  parent  or  the  State  has  a  claim  upon 
the  child  for  devotion  and  service,  much  more  has  the 
child,  as  the  involuntary  partner,  a  moral  right  to  be 
educated  for  these  relations.  And  with  the  truer  aims 
and  better  methods  of  to-day,  may  we  not  fairly  hope  for 
an  ever-increasing  recognition  and  fuller  satisfaction  of 
this,  his  supreme  right  ? 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  TEACHER.  19 

II. 

THE  CHARACTER   OF  THE  TEACHER. 

IT  is  not  so  long  ago  but  you  may  almost  count  the 
years  on  the  fingers  of  one  hand  since  society  was  sud- 
denly startled  from  its  sense  of  serenity,  as  by  thunder 
from  a  clear  sky. 

A  great  man  who  had  spent  his  life  in  giving  instruc- 
tion had  died,  and  upon  reading  his  will  it  was  found 
that  he  had  truthfully  signed  himself,  "  Louis  Agassiz, 
Teacher." 

The  provisions  of  the  will  were  too  important  to  have 
it  set  aside  on  the  ground  of  insanity,  and  therefore  the 
wide  republic  was  called  upon  to  contribute  for  a  memo- 
rial to  the  self-forgetfulness  of  the  man  who,  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  a  sound  mind,  could  calmly  write  himself 
"  Teacher." 

And  this  is  not  a  solitary  expression  of  a  large  public 
sentiment.  In  all  English  literature  down  to  one  of  the 
last  magazine  novels  of  the  present  editor  of  "The  Atlan- 
tic," the  schoolmaster  has  been  regarded  as  a  legitimate 
object  of  ridicule. 

"  Tom  Brown  at  Rugby  "  alone  in  literature  has  shown 
that  the  schoolmaster  may  be  a  man,  noble,  scholarly, 
humane,  gentle,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word ;  and  that 
the  school-boy,  instead  of  being  his  natural  enemy  and 
providential  tormentor,  may  become  his  loving  disciple 
and  most  devoted  friend. 

We  need  not  be  careful  to  deny  that  there  have  been, 
and  still  are,  some  sufficient  reasons  for  these  abounding 
views,  if  from  their  caricatures,  satires,  and  flippant 
pleasantries  we  may  be  led  to  discover  the  weak  points  in 
our  character  and  work,  and  to  learn  how  to  come  nearer 


20  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

that  high  ideal  which  we  cherish  and  to  which,  with 
greater  or  less  earnestness,  we  all  aspire — how  we  may 
slough  off  the  old  follies  and  foibles  which  have  gathered 
around  the  names  of  schoolmaster  and  pedagogue  and 
stand  among  the  intelligent  and  refined  with  the  honor 
and  esteem  which  should  clothe  the  name  of  teacher. 
For  what  business  or  profession  calls  for  a  deeper  insight, 
wiser  methods,  or  more  delicate  and  skillful  treatment, 
or  is  more  important  to  society,  than  that  of  quickening 
the  intellect  and  developing  and  molding  the  character 
of  those  who,  as  men  and  women,  are  so  soon  to  control 
all  our  interests  ?  It  may  be  true  that  all  these  little  ones 
have  their  natural  and  hereditary  traits,  which  in  a  deeper 
sense  form  their  characters,  and  which  may  not  be  changed 
or  obliterated  ;  but  the  possible  outcomes  of  these,  as  the 
result  of  the  teacher's  influence,  may  show  a  difference  as 
wide  as  the  universe. 

And  could  the  practical,  earnest  men  and  women  ac- 
curately measure  the  results — could  we  take  account  of 
stock,  and  compute  percentages  of  profit  and  loss  in 
mind  and  morals,  as  we  can  in  hardware  and  dry-goods 
and  groceries — our  successes  or  failures  would  meet  with 
other  return  than  taunt  and  gibe,  and  the  study  of  the 
columns  of  statistics  in  our  reports  would  not  end  with 
the  proof-reader. 

This  school-keeping  of  ours  is  not  a  makeshift,  a  catch- 
penny device,  a  means  for  tiding  over  an  unforeseen  bar 
in  our  business  career,  a  ready  resort  from  the  tedium  of 
housekeeping,  a  flirtation  with  small  literature,  a  free 
fountain  by  the  wayside,  where  the  tired  traveler  may  slake 
his  thirst  and  pass  on,  but  a  high  calling,  where,  if  any- 
where, are  required  intellectual  attainments,  an  active  in- 
telligence, tact,  special  training,  and  that  well-balanced  self- 
poise  which  we  sometimes  call  manhood  and  womanhood. 


THE   CHARACTER  OF  THE  TEACHER.  21 

Nowhere  is  the  waif  and  estray  of  fortune  and  of  life 
so  out  of  place  as  in  the  school-room,  and  nowhere  as  in 
the  school  may  one  contribute  to  the  welfare  of  his  kind, 
and  see  the  result  of  cheerful,  hearty,  unwearied  well- 
doing ;  and  nowhere  is  there  greater  need  of  a  healthful, 
harmonious,  and  ever  -  widening  growth  in  mind  and 
character. 

It  is  said  that  we  are  so  unfortunate  as  not  to  be 
brought  in  contact  with  those  of  our  own  age,  our  equals 
or  superiors  in  maturity  of  thought  and  in  acquirements, 
from  association  with  whom  we  might  strengthen  our 
reason  and  judgment,  sharpen  our  wit,  and  enlarge  our 
stock  of  information,  but  must  bring  ourselves  down  to 
the  comprehension  of  the  immature  and  the  ignorant. 

Unlike  those  in  other  professions,  too,  who  may  push 
their  inquiries  into  the  higher  and  broader  fields  of 
thought  and  fancy,  or  penetrate  those  deeps  where  fathom- 
line  has  never  reached,  we  are  to  teach  merely  those  sim- 
ple elements  and  truths  which  are  assumed  to  be  the 
common  property  of  all,  which  we  ourselves  may  have 
taught  a  hundred  times,  till  the  very  wheels  of  thought 
have  become  mired  and  clogged  in  the  little  ruts  them- 
selves have  made. 

Nor  does  our  school  life  take  hold  upon  the  active 
and  ever-multiplying  industries  of  the  day,  which  fill  the 
coffers  of  the  rich,  or  which  surround  with  comforts  and 
luxuries,  or  crown  with  office  and  honor  the  self-seeking 
and  the  ambitious. 

And  from  the  very  nature  and  conditions  of  our  work 
we  may  not  wisely  engage  in  the  partisan  and  sectarian 
strifes  and  discussions  which  are  the  especial  birthright 
of  a  people  who  are  but  even  now  beginning  to  realize 
the  full  power  of  free  thought  and  free  speech,  by  which 
their  destiny  is  to  be  wrought  out. 


22  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

We  are  also  each  but  a  member  of  a  great  system,  sub- 
ject to  its  laws,  with  no  opportunity,  like  the  merchant, 
the  banker,  and  the  railroad  magnate,  by  wiser  fore- 
thought, larger  enterprise,  and  broader  combinations,  to 
reap  that  richer  harvest  to  ourselves  of  profit  and  power 
which  comes  of  well-directed,  successful  effort. 

We  may  not  so  often  hear  our  deeds  heralded  to  the 
public  ear  in  noisy  huzzas  ;  but  the  fault  is  ours  if  in  the 
hearts  of  the  wise  and  good  the  name  of  teacher  is  not 
held  in  honor. 

There  is  a  way  of  teaching,  and  sometimes  by  earnest 
teachers,  too,  that  is  narrowing  and  belittling,  and  an 
educational  literature  that  is  its  most  faithful  ally. 

The  pictures  of  a  Goldsmith  and  a  Scott,  of  an  Irving 
and  a  Dickens,  present  features  of  a  type  of  schoolmasters 
in  which  we  can  detect  the  lineaments  of  a  species  not 
yet  wholly  extinct ;  but  let  us  hope  they  may  be  found  in 
the  near  future  only  by  the  fossil-hunter  in  the  dense 
jungles  of  ignorance  which  the  light  of  the  age  has  not 
pierced,  or  imbedded  in  the  quagmires  of  superstition 
which  the  ingenuity  of  science  has  not  spanned. 

Be  it  that  we  have  to  do  with  children  and  youth, 
with  those  whose  hungry  hearts  are  not  yet  sated,  nor 
their  restless  feet  grown  weary ;  whose  lisping  lips  and 
tripping  tongues  have  not  become  shaped  to  the  hard 
phrase  of  an  all-grasping  greed,  or  familiar  with  the  be- 
wildering jargon  of  boards  of  trade  ;  on  whose  sweet 
senses  pure  pleasures  have  not  palled,  nor  the  fair  fruits 
of  folly  yielded  their  full  bitterness ;  and  to  whom  dull 
drudgery  has  not  come  in  the  attractive  guise  of  that 
divinity  of  labor  through  whom  we  can  conquer  all 
things  ;  that  their  sacred  instincts  have  not  been  so  in- 
sulted and  trampled  upon  by  stupidity  and  prejudice  as 
to  refuse  longer  to  act  as  guides  to  what  their  nature 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  TEACHER.        23 

craves  for  its  sustenance  and  development ;  that  the  spirit 
has  not  so  lost  its  magnetic  sensitiveness  by  long  contact 
with  dull  or  dead  natures  as  not  to  be  attracted  by  kind- 
ness, trust,  and  confidence,  and  repelled  by  harshness, 
sneers,  and  ridicule ;  that,  in  short,  the  child  is  fresh, 
active,  ardent,  restless,  and  impulsive,  in  the  midst  of  a 
world  to  him  as  new,  as  curious,  as  attractive,  as  un- 
known as  himself,  where  he  must  conquer  or  fail  for  him- 
self. 

This  human  child  in  its  complexity  and  its  delicacy, 
in  its  weakness  and  its  possibilities,  is  the  real,  unsolved 
problem  of  our  schools,  and  the  man  or  woman  fitted  by 
nature,  education,  thought,  and  experience  to  discern  the 
true  conditions  and  rightly  apply  the  means  for  its  solu- 
tion, their  greatest  need. 

Before  the  days  of  Franklin  the  lightning  was  known 
only  as  the  dangerous  attendant  of  the  thunder-storm, 
coining  to  frighten  the  ignorant,  and  fill  the  heart  of  the 
wise  man  with  awe.  But  when  he  found  it  to  be  no 
supernatural  imp,  but  the  familar  of  his  laboratory,  he 
stripped  it  of  its  direst  terrors,  showing  how  it  might  be 
turned  aside  and  its  wrath  averted.  Then  came  the 
lightning-rod  man,  to  most  persons  an  object  of  dread 
only  less  than  that  of  the  original  lightning.  A  wiser 
generation  has  learned  that  by  proper  guidance  electricity 
may  become  one  of  our  most  efficient  and  tractable  agents 
in  diffusing  and  transmitting  light  and  intelligence. 

So  the  inextinguishable  boyishness  of  the  boy,  the 
terror  of  the  schoolma'am  and  the  wonder  of  the  peda- 
gogue, which  in  the  olden  time  was  seen  but  as  an  ele- 
ment of  turbulence  and  confusion,  to  be  shunned  by  the 
order-loving  and  the  peaceful,  a  later  day  learned  to  avoid 
by  turning  it  from  the  school-room  to. the  street,  possibly 
relieving  the  school  but  increasing  the  real  evil. 


24  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

A  praiseworthy  motive,  no  doubt,  dictated  this  course, 
to  avoid  the  mental  and  moral  pyaemia  sure  to  result  if 
the  evil  should  be  taken  up  and  spread  through  the  sys- 
tem ;  but  a  too  long  and  continuous  drain  of  even  "laud- 
able pus  "  weakens  and  ruins  at  the  last. 

It  but  remains  for  those  who  control  our  schools,  it 
remains  for  us,  as  teachers,  to  turn  this  old-time  bane 
into  a  blessing.  We  have  to  learn,  not  how  to  check 
those  restless  feet,  but  how  to  direct  them  gracefully  into 
the  right  paths ;  not  how  to  stifle  the  craving  of  those 
eager  hearts,  but  to  supply  the  nutriment,  which  they 
with  joy  can  receive  and  assimilate  ;  we  must  labor  not  to 
hush  and  still  those  babbling  tongues,  but  to  find  the 
words  of  truth  and  wisdom,  which  they  may  understand- 
ingly  pronounce  ;  not  to  dull  the  sharp  sense,  that  so 
often  leads  away  from  our  wishes  and  regulations,  but  to 
impart  a  zest  to  our  teachings,  so  sweetly  to  mingle  toil 
and  play,  that  each  shall  be  in  its  turn  a  delight ;  not  to 
deaden  or  destroy  the  instinctive  tendencies  of  his  ex- 
panding being,  but  kindly  and  wisely  to  bring  them  into 
a  willing  subjection  to  a  higher  reason,  guided  by  a  mere 
enlightened  understanding;  to  remove  the  tedium  of 
heartless  toil,  by  a  more  thorough  study  of  the  child 
nature;  by  noting,  with  as  keen  an  eye  as  the  bee-hunter's, 
what  course  his  instincts  would  take,  and  placing  before 
him  in  each  stage  of  his  course  the  subjects  and  problems 
of  nature,  life,  and  art,  with  which  his  outreaching  spirit 
may  successfully  and  lovingly  grapple. 

Can  the  ambitious  student  of  nature  find  enough  to 
satisfy  the  longings  of  his  soul  in  bending  over  a  butterfly 
or  a  beetle,  and  the  philologist  seek  his  immortality  of 
fame  in  devotion  to  the  dative  case,  and  are  we  degraded 
by  our  endeavors  to  understand  this  crowning  expression 
of  creative  power  ? 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE   TEACHER.  25 

There  is  an  essential  truth  in  the  spirit  of  the  remark 
attributed  to  Mr.  Garfield,  when  a  member  of  Congress. 
When  some  alumni  and  friends  of  Williams  College  were 
discussing  its  needs  in  the  way  of  books  and  apparatus, 
and  turned  to  him  for  his  opinion,  he  is  said  to  have  re- 
plied, "  Give  me  a  log-cabin  in  the  center  of  the  State, 
having  but  one  room,  containing  a  rough  bench,  with  Dr. 
Hopkins  on  one  end  and  me  on  the  other,  and  there  is  a 
college  for  me. "  And  well  might  it  be.  A  large-minded,  a 
great-hearted,  a  fully-equipped,  and  well-trained  man,  in 
wise  and  intimate  converse  with  an  intelligent  and  rever- 
ing pupil,  guiding  yet  following  his  earnest  but  often 
halting  efforts  to  clear  up  the  manifold  mysteries  of  mind 
and  matter  around  him,  and  the  greatest  of  all,  the  ex- 
tent and  the  powers  of  his  own  mental  and  moral  being, 
the  teacher  too  great,  too  earnest  to  be  dwarfed  or  hin- 
dered— himself,  perhaps,  the  greater  learner  of  the  two. 

A  narrow  basis  of  character  or  purpose  must  he  have 
who  fears  to  stoop  to  the  comprehension  of  his  little  learn- 
ers, who  rather  dare  not  rise  toward  the  height  of  his 
profession. 

He  whose  growth  ceases  with  his  graduation  from 
school  or  college,  whose  certificate  to  teach  crowns  the 
last  effort  of  an  exhausted  spirit,  may  suffer  by  suffering 
the  little  children  to  come  too  near,  or  to  draw  too  closely 
about  him,  for  the  wisest  man  will  often  find  himself  at 
fault  in  answering  their  legitimate  inquiries,  and  often 
feels  a  momentary  impulse  to  meet  the  difficulty  by  the 
time-honored  method  of  putting  that  child  to  bed. 

There  can  be  no  more  dangerous  heresy  for  our 
schools  than  the  sentiment  which  would  depreciate  the 
scholarly  attainments  and  character  of  our  teachers. 

Scholarship  alone  does  not  of  necessity  imply  the 
ability  to  teach,  but  this  ability  is  quite  as  likely  to  be 


26  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

the  companion  of  learning  as  of  ignorance,  and  experi- 
ence shows  that  if  accurate  scholarship  and  correct  speech 
be  wanting,  the  aptness  is  quite  as  apt  to  teach  error  as 
truth. 

The  days  of  the  A-B-C-darians,  and  the  three  R's — 
ah  !  ah  !  and  alas  ! — have  happily  gone  by,  and  hard  after 
them  are  following  those  to  whom  the  ability  to  trace  with 
index-finger,  word  by  word,  and  line  by  line,  the  pupil's 
progress  down  the  page  of  the  text-book,  was  enough. 

The  eager  applicant  for  a  position  advancing  through 
the  room  with  the  exclamation  :  "  Have  you  did  it  yet  ? 
I  want  it  awful,"  probably  had  that  qualification ;  and 
the  candidate  for  a  place  as  principal  of  one  of  our  great 
schools,  with  its  score  of  teachers,  and  its  ten  or  twelve 
hundred  pupils,  would  hardly  have  hazarded  "Cardinal 
Wolsey  and  John  of  Gaunt"  as  " leading  statesmen  of 
George  Ill's  reign,"  with  the  text-book  before  his  eyes. 

We  fear  such  teachers,  even  when  bringing  their  apt 
gifts. 

That  the  teacher  should  be  familiar  with  the  meager 
contents  of  the  text-book  goes  without  the  saying,  but 
this  is  but  a  small  and  comparatively  insignificant  part 
of  his  accomplishments,  and  the  memorizing  of  the  brief 
pages  but  one  of  the  several  results  to  be  aimed  at  for 
the  pupil's  benefit.  The  clear  conception,  the  power  of 
thought,  of  comparison  and  judgment,  and  the  easy,  con- 
cise, correct  expression,  are  distinct  objects,  each  fully 
as  important  as  the  facts  themselves. 

No  grade  so  small  but  some  definite  and  ready  knowl- 
edge of  the  vegetable  and  animal  life  about  us  is  an 
essential  part  of  the  teacher's  outfit. 

Plain  and  simple  illustration  of  the  cause  of  day  and 
night,  the  summer's  heat,  the  winter's  cold,  the  dew,  the 
rain,  the  frosts  and  snows,  will  find  a  welcome  place  in 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  TEACHER.  27 

the  school-room,  without  infringing  upon  the  high-school 
course,  and  sometimes  without  leaving  the  skill  of  the 
high-school  graduate  in  physics  and  astronomy  untasked. 

That  grasp  of  mathematics  which,  outside  the  province 
of  the  lightning  calculator,  comprehends^  something  of 
the  logic  of  numbers  and  their  application,  to  see  what 
we  have,  and  what  we  want,  and  the  direct  road  to  our 
destination,  needs  to  be  nerved  by  a  stronger  diet  of 
algebra  and  geometry  than  the  averages  of  our  examina- 
tions would  often  indicate. 

To  what  useful  purpose  do  our  pupils  learn  from  the 
book  the  names  of  the  ten  important  towns  of  Massachu- 
setts, without  knowing  so  much  as  whether  they  are 
something  to  be  laid  away  in  safes,  or  strung  up  to  dry 
like  the  old  wives'  apples ;  or  to  learn  that  Minnesota 
produces  wheat,  Kentucky  tobacco,  and  Louisiana  sugar, 
still  ignorant  whether  they  are  picked  like  apples  from 
trees,  or  dug  from  the  ground  like  potatoes ;  or  why 
spend  much  time  or  thought  at  all  on  the  what  or  the 
where  of  the  Angora  cat  ? 

And  should  not  he  who  directs  the  education  of  the 
child  have  some  acquaintance  with  the  laws  of  mental 
growth  and  development  ?  I  mean,  not  the  deep  pon- 
derings  and  abstruse  reasonings  of  the  metaphysician, 
and  the  recluse,  but  those  accepted  principles  of  mental 
action  which  may  guide  to  the  right  mode  and  order 
of  presenting  the  different  subjects — something  of  the 
material  upon  which  he  works,  and  the  tools  to  be  em- 
ployed. 

There  are  more  fruitful  themes  for  our  primary  pupils 
than  nice  classifications  and  technical  definitions.  What 
not  to  teach  is  often  as  important  a  problem  as  how  to 
teach.  Why  confuse  our  children  with  the  nature  and 
kinds  of  sentences  before  they  have  them  at  command  ? 


28  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

Classification  becomes  useful  when  the  multiplicity  of 
objects  becomes  perplexing  and  burdensome. 

Double  entry  is  not  of  advantage  in  running  a  peanut- 
stand. 

Hardly  would  two  grammarians  define  a  sentence 
alike ;  and  should  two,  perchance,  be  found  to  agree,  a 
third  would  doubtless  start  up  in  astonishment  and  eager 
protest. 

We  would  not  wish  our  small  graders  to  know  what 
a  sentence  is,  or  that  there  are  such  troublesome  things 
in  existence. 

And  worst  of  all  is  this  attempt  to  bring  down  the 
higher  and  more  difficult  studies  of  riper  years  within 
the  grasp  of  the  infant  mind  by  the  use  of  those  twad- 
dling terms  which  it  will  soon  be  the  hardest  task  to 
unlearn.  What  a  burlesque  of  education  to  tell  a  child, 
as  yet  unable  to  read  readily,  to  write  a  telling  sentence 
about  a  cat !  A  telling  sentence,  truly,  but  telling  most 
of  the  absurdity  of  the  method. 

Things  come  before  names,  use  before  theories,  speak- 
ing before  writing,  the  whole  before  its  parts,  words 
before  letters. 

Think  of  the  time  spent  on  the  interjection  oh  ! 
which  seems  to  have  a  sort  of  monopoly  of  primers  and 
first  readers,  though  rarely  found  elsewhere,  or  used  save 
by  young  girls  and  teachers.  Intelligence  is  not  largely 
interjectional. 

What  marvels  of  uselessness  we  can  make  of  ourselves 
with  the  aid  of  the  book-makers  !  I  can  now  recall,  as 
but  of  yesterday,  and  doubt  not  my  freed  spirit  will  find 
encysted  somewhere  in  its  incorporeal  anatomy,  the  old 
definition  of  "punctuation,  which  is  the  art  of  dividing 
a  written  composition  into  sentences  or  parts  of  sentences 
by  points  or  stops,  to  mark  the  different  pauses  which  the 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE   TEACHER.  29 

sense  requires,"  which,  for  any  good  resulting  there- 
from, might  fitly  have  been  subscribed,  "Truly  yours, 
Theophilus  Thistle,  the  thistle-sifter."  These  things  all 
have  their  uses,  and  in  their  due  time  and  order  pass 
grandly  into  our  curriculum  through  the  wide  doors  of 
reason  and  enlightenment,  instead  of  toddling  in  by  the 
back  door  and  nursery. 

And  is  not  the  wise  study  of  the  times  and  methods 
of  teaching  the  several  topics  as  high  a  pursuit  as  meas- 
uring off  tape  or  weighing  sugar,  or  packing  a  caucus  ? 
And  is  not  the  pursuit  as  much  the  part  and  the  pro- 
moter of  wisdom,  as  how  to  secure  a  seat  or  a  vote  in 
council  or  Legislature  ?  And  does  not  the  worthy  teacher 
need  a  broader  and  deeper  reading  of  books  and  character 
than  is  found  in  our  prescribed  lists  ?  And  may  not  the 
hundredth  repetition  of  the  same  lesson  be  better  directed, 
more  simply  and  plainly  presented,  and  more  judiciously 
and  pleasingly  illustrated  than  any  of  the  preceding  ? 
And  is  not  she  well  deserving  who  devotes  some  of  the 
evening  and,  it  may  be,  the  morning  hours  to  those 
studies  which  shall  enliven  and  enrich  the  labor  of  the 
class-room  ? 

I  remember  lately  to  have  read  some  complaint  that 
we  teach  so  much  that  is  not  needed  in  the  counting- 
room  ;  surely  it  is  devoutly  to  be  hoped.  There  are,  to 
my  mind,  few  sadder  pictures  than  that  of  a  thinking, 
reasoning  being  shut  in,  from  youth  to  hoary  age,  to  the 
requirements  of  the  counting-room  : 

.  .  .  from  the  cheerful  ways  of  men 
Cut  off,  and  for  the  book  of  knowledge  fair 
Presented  with  a  universal  blank 
Of  Nature's  works,  to  him  expunged  and  'rased. 

The  condition  of  the  old  men,  solemnly  nursing  their  hoe- 
handles  on  the  city  street,  seems  Elysian  in  comparison. 


30  PKACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

Of  such  a  one,  perhaps,  Wordsworth  wrote  : 

The  multiplication  table  was  his  creed 

His  paternoster  and  his  decalogue ; 

For  in  a  close  and  dusty  counting-house 

He  had  so  smoke-dried  and  seared  and  shriveled  up 

His  heart,  that  when  the  dirt  shall  now 

Be  shoveled  on  him,  'twill  still  be  dust  to  dust. 

But  most  of  all  do  we  need  to  get  rid  of  the  paltriness, 
the  littleness,  the  petty  tyranny,  the  false  and  easily  of- 
fended dignity  that  still  lurk  and  linger  in  the  dusty 
corners  of  our  system.  We  desire  that  the  mention  of 
school  and  teacher  should  suggest  something  other  than 
strap  and  rattan  and  ruler ;  that  some  other  question 
should  be  found  to  ask  our  returning  pupils  at  nightfall 
than  "How  many  times  have  you  been  pinched  or  beaten 
to-day  ?  "  We  want  our  teachers — men  and  women — too 
big,  too  manly,  too  womanly  to  be  able  to  be  insulted  by 
any  child  intrusted  to  his  or  her  care — too  much  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  child-nature  to  see  a  design  in  every  error, 
a  covert  crime  in  every  unmeaning  glance  ;  and  we  want 
our  pupils  so  confident  of  the  good-will  and  calm,  just 
discrimination  of  the  teacher  as  to  honestly  and  frankly 
come  and  report  any  accidental  wrong-doing  without  fear 
or  dread. 

I  wish  I  had  the  gift  of  speech  that  would  enable  me 
to  express  my  thought,  to  give  clear  voice  to  the  feeling 
that  comes  over  me  in  the  still,  small  hours,  when 
thought  can  range  unhindered  by  the  cares  and  annoy- 
ances of  the  outer  world. 

Think  of  yourselves  at  the  call  and  beck  of  the  parent 
who  could  take  his  little  boy  or  girl  up  to  the  public 
whipping-post  to  be  flogged  by  a  hired  baster,  and  him 
or  her  to  be  found  in  the  free  school,  and  there  intrusted 
with  the  tenderest  and  most  delicate  interests  of  life  ! 


THE   CHARACTER  OF  THE  TEACHER.  31 

Believe  me,  my  fellow-teachers,  our  schools  will  be 
mentioned  with  scorn  and  our  names  spoken  with  con- 
tempt till  we  cast  aside  this  relic  of  a  by-gone  age,  and 
cease  to  be  the  sole  representatives  of  a  debased  and  de- 
grading barbarism. 

I  was  glad  at  our  last  school  anniversary  to  be  able  to 
congratulate  teachers  and  pupils  that  there  was  one 
school-building  in  this  city  where,  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  the  work  of  instruction  had  gone  on,  like  the 
building  of  Solomon's  temple,  with  never  the  sound  of 
blows  within  its  walls. 

A  recent  number  of  the  "Journal  of  Education" 
cites  one  of  those  so  considered  extreme  cases,  where 
the  writer  would  "  like  the  privilege  of  resorting  to  phys- 
ical suasion."  l(  A  rough,  hulking  fellow,"  it  goes  on  to 
say,  "down  on  Cape  Cod,  in  answer  to  a  mild  reproof 
from  his  teacher,  a  nice,  lady-like  girl,  said,  '  I'd  punch 
yer  head  for  ye,  if  ye  warn't  a  woman. ":  And  he,  of 
course,  should  be  whanged  and  pounded  ?  "We  would 
show  him,  then,  that  our  self-respect,  aided  by  a  greater 
maturity  of  thought  and  judgment,  could  not  restrain  us 
from  doing  the  self-same  act  from  which  he  had  been 
withheld  by  respect  for  another. 

If  he  had  been  sent  to  me,  I  would  rather  have  said, 
in  effect :  "  My  young  friend,  I  am  glad  to  learn  that 
you  stand  one  of  the  truest  tests  of  manliness.  No  man 
is  to  be  despaired  of  so  long  as  he  preserves  a  true  respect 
for  woman.  But  that  is  not  the  way  to  speak  to  a  lady. 
She  isn't  a  fish-woman.  If  I  were  you,  when  I  found  an 
opportunity,  I  would  tell  her  that,  in  my  anger,  I  had 
done  what  I  was  ashamed  of  when  I  thought  of  it — not 
unless  you  want  to  ;  but  I  fancy  you'd  feel  yourself  twice 
the  man  after  it.  Come  and  see  me  again  within  a  day 
or  two." 


32  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

One  of  our  most  experienced  and  successful  teachers 
asked  me,  not  long  since,  if  I  remembered  such  and  such 
a  one,  who  used  to  be  in  school.  I  was  forced  to  admit 
very  distinct  recollections  of  them. 

"But  we  have  had  no  such  cases,"  said  he,  "of  late 
years  ;  and,  do  you  know,"  he  continued,  with  more  than 
his  wonted  tenderness — "do  you  know  that  I  often  think 
I  should  have  had  no  trouble  with  them  if  I  had  known 
anything  ? "  in  which  opinion  I  was  forced  also  to  ac- 
quiesce. 

The  work  of  education  is  to  enkindle  and  instruct, 
not  merely  to  quench  and  repress ;  yet  how  confidently, 
in  answer  to  my  some  time  suggestion  that  such  a  teacher 
is  not  specially  successful,  comes  the  quick  reply,  "I  do 
not  know  why  not — I  keep  them  still ! "  So,  haply,  would 
sleep  or  death,  forsooth,  for  even  ghosts  tread  softly  and 
speak  low  ;  but,  as  in  the  young  groves  and  bright  mead- 
ows of  spring-time,  so  in  the  school ;  we  love  the  gentle 
murmur  and  rustle  of  "  the  green  things  growing." 

Do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  believe  in  the  advan- 
tage— the  necessity — of  quiet  order  as  thoroughly  as  any 
one  ;  but  when  the  whole  force  of  the  teacher  is  expended 
in  the  perpetual  endeavor  to  hush  and  suppress  the  undi- 
rected activities  of  the  school-room,  I  feel  that  she  has 
not  been  "  put  where  she  can  do  the  most  good." 

It  may  not  indicate  any  lack  of  intelligence  that  one 
is  not  successful  in  school,  more  than  the  inability  to 
sing  or  play  the  violin  wo  aid  do  so.  There  is  many  and 
many  "a  nice  girl,"  on  and  off  of  Cape  Cod,  who  can 
not  wisely  keep  a  school  of  hulking  boys ;  but  there 
are  enough  who  can. 

It  has  been  a  much-mooted  question,  of  late,  with 
writers  and  speakers  on  education,  "  How  shall  we  ob- 
tain good  teachers  for  our  schools  ?"  It  does  not  seem 


THE   CHARACTER  OF  THE   TEACHER.  33 

to  me  a  difficult  conundrum.  It  is  much  like  Horace 
Greeley's  "  way  to  resume. "  If  we  do  not  have  good  teach- 
ers in  our  schools,  it  is  simply  because — no,  not  because 
we  do  not  want  them,  but  because  we  do  not  employ 
them  ;  consciously  or  unconsciously  we  allow  other  mo- 
tives to  influence  us. 

How  it  may  be  in  the  smaller  towns  I  do  not  know, 
but,  in  the  larger  ones,  I  believe  we  can  have  just  as  good 
teachers  as  we  choose.  The  bright  men,  the  intelligent 
men,  the  able,  the  earnest  men  do  not,  by  any  means,  all 
go  into  the  professions  and  trade  of  choice.  Even  with 
the  present  inadequate  pay,  there  are  good  teachers 
enough — lovers  of  the  work — to  fill  our  positions. 

But  to  throw  off  some  of  the  old  traditions,  or  rather 
the  old  associations,  which  still  cling  to  our  names  and 
to  our  work,  is  a  task  in  which  the  best  lover  of  them  all 
will  find  a  field  for  his  most  earnest  endeavor. 

There  have  been,  as  it  seems  to  me,  two  grand  im- 
pulses given  to  education  in  this  country. 

The  first  came  from  the  life  and  labors  of  Horace 
Mann,  whose  intense  enthusiasm  and  burning  words 
stirred  the  heart  of  New  England,  as  had  never  been  done 
before,  to  the  importance  of  universal  education,  the  need 
of  more  systematic  methods,  and  the  necessity  for  edu- 
cated and  carefully  trained  teachers. 

I  have  tried  to  recall  an  extract  from  a  Fourth-of-July 
oration  of  his  before  the  authorities  of  Boston,  which  I 
learned  when  a  pupil  in  school,  though  I  have  not  seen 
it  since : 

"  For,  in  the  name  of  the  living  God,"  he  says,  "  it 
must  be  proclaimed  that  superstition  shall  be  the  religion, 
that  licentiousness  shall  be  the  liberty,  and  that  anarchy 
shall  be  the  law  of  that  people  which  neglects  the  educa- 
tion of  its  children." 
4 


34  PKACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

The  second  grand  impulse,  wholly  unlike  the  first,  but 
no  less  valuable  in  its  place,  came,  I  think,  from  the 
reading  of  "  Tom  Brown  at  Kugby." 

It  was  said  by  one  of  Dr.  Arnold's  friends  that,  if  he 
should  be  elected  head-master  at  Eugby,  he  would  change 
the  face  of  education  in  England. 

However  that  may  have  been,  his  influence,  through 
"  Tom  Brown,"  if  it  has  not  changed  the  face,  has  gone 
far  to  work  out  a  change  of  heart  in  the  better  schools  of 
these  Northern  States. 

We  may  have  learned  elsewhere  of  the  life  and  work 
of  Arnold — his  character,  his  methods,  his  reforms.  But 
"  Tom  Brown/'  passing  into  the  hands  of  young  and  old, 
gave  an  insight  into  the  real  spirit  and  power  of  the  man, 
as  seen  and  interpreted  by  the  author,  with  a  delicacy  of 
sentiment  and  a  nobleness  of  feeling  which  most  of  us,  I 
fear,  would  not,  unaided,  have  seen  so  clearly  in  the  doc- 
tor himself. 

This  is  one  of  the  few  cases,  we  suspect,  in  which  the 
translation  does  full  justice  to  the  original. 

This  spirit  of  manliness,  so  largely  pervading  our  bet- 
ter schools,  had  its  origin,  we  think,  in  a  good  degree  in 
"  Tom  Brown  at  Rugby,"  with  which  many  of  our  own 
citizens  are,  doubtless,  more  familiar  than  with  our 
schools  in  Chicago.  And  if  some  of  those  who,  from  time 
to  time,  call  loudly  for  reform,  were  as  well  acquainted 
with  the  inner  life  of  some  of  our  schools  as  with  that  of 
the  great  schools  of  England,  they  would  find  that  we 
have  not  only  "outgrown  our  own  bragging,"  but  have 
left  some  of  their  ideal  reforms  a  whole  decade  behind  us. 

It  is,  then,  no  new  principles  that  we  are  urging. 
The  deep  conviction,  the  change  of  heart,  have  already 
begun.  We  should  now  strive  for  that  inner  growth 
which  shall  find  expression  in  a  fuller,  completer  life. 


THE  PLACE  OF  MEMORY  IN  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION.     35 

The  coming  generation,  that  is  to  make  or  unmake 
our  city,  our  State,  and  our  country,  is  already  filling  the 
air  with  its  prattle,  its  laughter,  its  cries. 

Some  of  them  even  now,  through  neglect,  are  stum- 
bling and  falling  in  the  ways  of  ignorance  and  crime ; 
some  straying,  uncared  for,  into  the  haunts  of  vice  and 
misery  ;  the  larger  and  better  portion,  let  us  hope,  with 
fresh  hearts  and  bright  faces,  timidly,  gleefully,  hopefully 
advancing,  singly  and  in  groups,  to  the  school-house. 

Society  is  waiting,  calling — earnestly,  anxiously — for 
men  and  women  of  broader  culture  and  nobler  nature — 
men  and  women  of  quick  intelligence,  of  enlightened 
understanding,  of  large  heart  and  generous  impulse,  to 
take  these  little  ones  by  the  hand  and  lead  them  into  the 
pleasant  ways  of  wisdom,  virtue,  usefulness,  and  happi- 
ness. 

It  remains  to  be  seen  how  many  of  us  will  step  for- 
ward in  sympathy  with  this  call  of  the  age,  with  a  ready, 
a  hearty  "Ay,  ay,  sirs  ! " 


m. 

THE  PLACE  OF  MEMORY  IN  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION. 

WHILE  the  rebel  angels  were  waiting,  in  the  outer 
abyss,  the  return  of  their  great  leader  from  his  "still 
hunt"  for  the  whereabout  of  this  new  world,  Milton 
represents  them  as  "  reasoning  high  of  Providence,  fore- 
knowledge, will,  and  fate,  fixed  fate,  free-will,  foreknowl 
edge  absolute" — a  discussion  not  yet  ended,  nor  has  it 
been  restricted  to  this  rebel  crew.  None  so  attractive. 

No  supposed  possession  or  attribute  has  seemed  so 


36  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

desirable,  or  raised  man  so  near  the  divine,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  his  fellows,  as  this  foreknowledge,  this  power  to 
discern  the  future.  It  has  invested  the  seer,  the  prophet, 
and  the  soothsayer  with  a  reverence  which  still  casts  its 
mysterious  shadow  over  the  otherwise  transparent  frauds 
of  the  modern  fortune-teller,  and  even  the  prognostics  of 
a  Venner. 

Face  to  face  with  the  unknown,  with  all  the  forces  of 
nature  and  life  surging  around  us,  in  our  seeming  help- 
lessness and  ignorance,  we  are  at  all  times  tempted  to 
cry,  "  Oh,  that  I  only  knew  !  "  Whether  the  acquisition 
would  he  beneficial  or  not,  or  even  possible,  by  the  en- 
dowment of  some  new  sense,  so  attractive  is  the  thought 
that,  in  comparison,  we  are  apt  to  underestimate  or  forget 
the  importance  of  that  hardly  less  valuable  power  of  look- 
ing back  at  what  has  been — that  power  through  which 
the  whole  past  of  nature  and  of  man  is  spread  before  us 
like  a  map,  with  his  deeds  of  glory  and  of  shame ;  the 
revolution  of  worlds  and  of  thought ;  the  rise  arid  fall  of 
nations,  as  of  tides ;  through  which  we  can  deduce  the 
laws  by  which  continents  are  built  up,  and  suns  and 
planets  hung  forth  as  lamps  ;  the  laws  of  growth  and  de- 
cay, of  failure  and  success,  of  happiness  and  woe ;  ena- 
bling us  not  only  to  recreate  the  lost  past,  but  with  one 
hand  to  put  aside  the  veil,  and  with  apocalyptic  vision 
descry  the  future,  too,  so  that  we  seem  no  longer  walking 
as  into  the  night,  but  make  even  the  darkness  light  before 
our  steps,  and  direct  our  course  among  the  mysteries  of 
life  as  confidently  and  unerringly  as  ever  in  boyhood 
through  our  own  father's  house. 

How  all  these  fading  phases  of  life  are  copied,  and 
written  down,  and  preserved  ;  where  they  are  stored  for 
our  use,  and  by  what  secret  process  of  will  or  association 
they  are  made  to  come  forth  at  our  bidding,  we  may  well 


THE   PLACE   OF  MEMORY  IN  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION.     37 

leave  to  what  by  a  sweet  euphemism  is  called  philoso- 
phy, to  which  distance  and  obscurity  the  great  enchant- 
ment lend. 

Enough  for  our  present  purpose  to  know  that  the  past 
by  some  hidden  power  is  made  ours  ;  that  the  events  of 
our  lives  are  thus  photographed  ;  our  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings recorded,  as  in  sympathetic  ink,  and  the  require- 
ments of  to-day  laid  away  and  guarded,  as  by  some  faith- 
ful servitor,  to  be  handed  forth  at  our  call  and  desire  ; 
that  thus  alone  are  reason  and  intelligence  made  possible, 
and  life  worth  the  living.  And  to  us,  as  teachers,  it  be- 
,  comes  a  matter  of  the  first  importance  to  understand  the 
true  relation  of  the  memory  to  the  other  powers,  that  we 
may  not  undervalue  it,  as  the  great  storehouse  of  the 
mind,  and  by  neglect  allow  our  pupils  to  become  little 
better  than  mental  tramps,  calculating  without  capital, 
and  restless  with  no  resources ;  or,  by  our  overestimate 
or  misapprehension,  make  of  them  miserly  paupers,  hug- 
ging their  intellectual  hoards  to  their  hungry  hearts, 
wonders  in  dreary  details  and  dates  and  dry  statistics, 
but  worthless  for  any  productive  work,  or  for  any  service 
to  society. 

It  is  this  memory  by  which  the  child  in  the  first  wak- 
ing of  its  intelligence  learns  to  discern  the  mother's  face, 
and  by  associating  with  it  the  little  joys  and  pleasures 
which  love  and  sympathy  have  been  able  to  bestow,  ere 
long  to  distinguish  the  sound,  the  spoken  name  by  which 
the  ever-present  heeder  of  its  wants  is  known,  till  the  word 
mother,  the  synonym  of  all  kindness  and  unselfish  faith- 
fulness and  unexacting  love,  becomes  the  dearest,  the  ten- 
derest,  the  truest,  and  most  sacred  word  in  all  literature. 

It  is  this  by  which  he  is  at  length  enabled  correctly 
to  frame  his  own  mysterious  babblings,  so  sweet  and  so 
plain  to  the  mother's  ever-attentive  ear ;  this  by  which 


38  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

those  first  inarticulate  incoherencies  are  molded  into  the 
sustained  melody  and  eloquence  of  a  Milton  or  a  Pitt. 

It  is  this,  too,  by  which  he  becomes  familiar  with  the 
little  world  of  his  nursery,  and  learns  to  discriminate  be- 
tween the  objects  around  him,  and — by  recalling  his  pre- 
vious ineffectual  grasps — to  know  that  the  moon  is  beyond 
his  reach  ;  to  judge  of  distance  by  sight  and  sound ;  to 
compass  his  first  exultant  stumble  from  the  chair  to  his 
mother's  outstretched  hand,  and  convert  it  into  the  stride 
of  a  Hercules,  or  the  bound  of  an  Apollo  ;  which,  in  short, 
saves  us  all  from  a  perpetual  babyhood  of  ignorance  and 
imbecility,  forever  beginning  and  never  advancing  ;  gath- 
ering the  sweet  and  sparkling  drops  of  life  into  the  bot- 
tomless bucket  of  forgetfulness,  from  which  no  draughts 
can  ever  be  drained  of  strength  or  hope. 

Yet,  not  alone  does  memory  give  power  or  wisdom  ; 
it  accumulates  material,  but  never  selects  or  constructs  ; 
it  heaps  up  rubbish  as  readily  as  it  fills  treasures  ;  it  re- 
cords errors  and  sorrows  as  well  as  successes  and  joys,  but 
of  itself  teaches  neither  how  to  avoid  the  one  nor  to  secure 
and  increase  the  other. 

And  in  the  various  branches  of  our  school-work,  what 
are  the  things  to  be  memorized  ;  under  what  conditions, 
and  by  what  means  the  memory  may  best  secure  the  de- 
sired results,  and  how  its  resources  may  be  most  wisely 
and  securely  invested,  and  by  what  guardianship  made 
most  available  for  the  future  life  and  progress  of  their 
pupils,  may  well  command  the  frequent  and  earnest 
thought  of  every  teacher. 

The  average  child  of  six  years  already  upon  entering 
school  has,  in  greater  or  less  completeness,  his  little  vo- 
cabulary, sufficient  for  the  needs  of  his  daily  life.  He 
has  seen  the  dog,  the  tree,  the  bird,  has  heard  and  re- 
membered the  sounds  which  we  call  names,  has  associated 


THE  PLACE  OF   MEMORY  IN  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION.     39 

with  them  the  utterances,  which  we  designate  by  "barks" 
and  """grows  "  and  "sings,  "and  has  laid  them  one  by 
one  away  within  easy  reach  in  his  memory. 

He  has  noted  the  motion  of  the  lip  when  others  have 
pronounced  the  words,  and  one  by  one  by  many  an  effort  ; 
has  himself  mastered  the  wondrous  art,  which  he  has 
practiced  with  ever-new  delight,  till  now,  almost  without 
a  conscious  effort,  as  if  by  intuition,  the  words  talk  them- 
selves. To  him  a  word  is  a  word,  a  simple  utterance,  is 
what  he  says,  which  he  has  never  analyzed,  never  thought 
about,  and  he  knows  no  more  why  this  or  that  sound 
stands  for  this  or  that  thing,  or  act,  than — we  ourselves. 

How  he  has  loved  to  live  and  learn  !  Like  the  lambs 
in  their  pastures,  life  has  been  to  him  a  joy.  He  has 
talked  and  laughed  and  run  and  climbed,  winning  ever 
some  new  word,  some  wisdom,  some  power,  and  always 
some  new  happiness ;  and  now,  in  the  glad  pride  of  his 
little  heart,  he  has  come  to  school.  He  is  a  scholar ;  he 
is  going  to  learn  to  read. 

Those  objects,  those  acts,  and  those  feelings,  for 
which  he  has  learned  the  sounds,  he  is  now  to  see  repre- 
sented by  marks,  by  printed,  written  characters.  The 
primer,  the  volume,  the  wisdom,  the  poetry,  the  elo- 
quence of  the  ages  are  to  be  opened  and  revealed  to  him, 
and  why  should  he  not  be  proud  and  glad  ? 

His  first  twenty,  or  forty,  or  two  hundred  words  are 
to  be  memorized,  learned  as  simple  word?,  mere  arbitrary 
characters  for  simple  sounds,  as  wholes  and  not  yet  in 
their  parts,  one  or  two  to-day,  and  the  others  to-morrow 
and  the  next  day  ;  he  is  to  learn  to  knoy  them,  to  make 
them,  and  so  familiarly,  by  seeing,  by  speaking,  and  by   . 
writing,  that  the  character  shall  always  suggest  the  sound,    ' 
the  sound  the  character,  all  unconsciously,  as  he  has  air 
ready  associated  the  sound  and  the  object  or  act. 


40  PRACTICAL  HIXTS  FOR  TE1CHERS. 

A  different  thing,  as  he  soon  finds,  from  chasing  but- 
terflies and  making  mud-pies,  is  this  filling  his  slate  with 
words,  only  to  erase  them  and  fill  it  again — that  modern 
refinement  and  combination  of  pillory  and  thumb-screw. 

The  lively,  eager  attention,  the  first  requisite  and 
condition  of  memorizing,  soon  gives  place  to  dull  and 
painful  listlessness,  if  not  to  revolt  and  lawlessness,  since 
now  the  second  condition  of  memory,  frequent  repetition, 
has  been  carried  to  a  nauseating  satiety. 

Now  must  the  ingenuity,  the  art,  the  power  of  the 
teacher,  like  the  voice  of  the  Master  to  the  sinking  Peter, 
appear  or  he  perishes.  Instead  of  the  frequent  repetition, 
the  word  must  be  wrought  into  sentences  alive  with  a 
new  meaning.  The  object  must  be  at  hand,  the  picture 
presented,  the  perception  called  into  exercise,  the  little 
story  told  and  repeated,  the  interest  awakened. 

As  we  know  of  matter  only  through  force,  and  of  force 
only  through  matter,  so  in  these  early  days  of  school  life 
must  the  thing  and  the  word  become  forever  associated 
by  constant  practice.  Dull  repetition  must  give  place  to 
pleasing  variety ;  the  words  of  yesterday  wrought  into 
the  lessons  of  to-day  and  to-morrow  ;  the  new  words  of 
to-day  pointed  out,  written,  talked  about  before  com- 
mencing the  lesson,  or  as  an  introduction.  Thus,  instead 
of  being  a  stumbling-block  in  the  path  of  his  reading, 
now  will  the  new  word  glisten  like  a  new  coin  among  its 
dingy  companions,  and  its  easy  mastery  on  the  new  page 
fill  him  with  the  pride,  the  happiness  of  a  conqueror. 

But  the  storing  of  the  memory  with  accumulations  of 
forms  and  facts  is  of  little  use,  unless  they  can  be  at  once 
and  with  ease  reproduced  and  wrought  into  new  creations, 
with  different  effects  and  for  other  purposes.  The  pupil 
with  his  learning  must  be  always  using  his  acquisitions. 
He  must  be  led  to  talk  and  talk  correctly.  Very  early  in 


THE  PLACE   OF   MEMORY  IN  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION.      41 

his  school  life  does  he  form  those  habits  that  never  leave 
him,  even  by  prayer  and  fasting.  Those  little  errors  that 
we  learned  in  childhood,  even  now  after  beating  them 
down  for  a  score  or  two  of  years,  in  some  careless  moment 
will  start  up  as  fresh  and  strong  as  if  they  had  never 
known  defeat. 

Here  in  the  early  grade  is  determined  whether  in  his 
utterance  he  shall  be  clear,  open,  distinct,  articulate,  cor- 
rect, or  go  through  grammar  and  high  school,  perchance 
through  college  and  university,  with  hang-dog  air  and  in- 
coherent mutterings. 

Here,  by  question  and  answer,  by  recital  and  story, 
before  he  can  yet  busy  himself  with  the  printed  or  written  ). 
page,  he  should  become  familiar  with  the  common  forms 
of  speech  —man,  men,  children,  child,  am,  is,  are,  a,  an —  I 
not  by  rule  or  definition,  but  by  use  in  all  the  variety  of 
their  combinations.  These  are  for  permanent  use ;  forms 
that  are  always  used,  and  by  all,  and  their  correct  use  is 
all  memory  and  habit — habit  so  strong  and  confirmed 
that  the  effort  escapes  detection.  It  should  be  made  ere 
long  so  thoroughly  a  part  of  himself  that  he  would  no 
more  think  of  saying  "  we  is,"  "  I  done  it,"  "  he  has  went," 
"them  books,"  than  of  putting  his  food  into  his  ears. 

But  no  definition  ;  nothing  of  "sentence,  asking  sen- 
tence, telling  sentence "  ;  no  "  action  words,  naming 
words,  relation  words  " ;  no  rules.  It  should  yet  be  all 
use.  He  who  talks  by  rule  never  talks  well.  With  true 
culture  words  come  as  the  winds  come,  and  we  hear  the 
sound  thereof. 

Memory  quickened  by  association  with  some  object  or 
purpose,  enlivened  by  variety  and  novelty,  made  repro- 
ductive by  new  applications  requiring  ingenuity  and  skill 
on  the  pupil's  part,  is  the  chief  reliance  and  hope  of  the 
lower  grades. 


4:2  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

This  is  the  receptive  period,  when  the  underlying 
material  for  future  upbuilding  is  to  be  secured.  It  is  the 
curious,  the  observing  period,  when  all  is  still  fresh  and 
new,  when  the  child's  thought  is  ever  on  the  wing  from 
flower  to  flower,  from  sweet  to  sweet — ever  bearing,  too, 
like  the  bee  from  blossom  to  blossom,  the  fertilizing  dust 
that  shall  make  them  all  hereafter  richer  of  flower  and 
fruit ;  the  period,  too,  when  all  objects  quickly  pall  upon 
the  sense. 

The  fixity  of  thought,  the  close  observation  and  com- 
parison, the  nice  analysis,  the  weighing  and  balancing  of 
reasons  and  probabilities,  which  are  the  delight  of  the 
trained  intellect,  play  a  small  part  in  his  young  life.  His 
purposes  are  as  fleeting  as  his  laughter  or  his  tears  ;  there 
is  no  place  in  his  nature  for  mere  routine. 

The  memorized  rules  and  definitions  have  to  him  no 
meaning,  and  to  force  them  upon  him  is  but  to  send  him 
blindfold  into  a  field  of  rich  and  rare  products,  whose 
pathways  he  has  not  yet  learned,  and  whose  beauties  he 
has  not  yet  seen  ;  or  to  lead  him  painfully  and  sadly  by 
the  hand,  when  with  the  bandage  removed — 

The  stream,  the  wood,  the  earth,  the  skies, 
Would  be  to  him  an  opening  paradise. 

As  in  a  gallery  of  pictured  landscapes  there  is  in  each 
the  mead,  the  hill,  the  tree,  the  stream,  with  a  touch  of 
human  or  animal  life,  but  always  in  different  combina- 
tion, with  varied  relations,  so  should  the  monotony  of 
dull  repetition  on  the  printed  page  be  relieved. 

The  words  that  are  recited  and^  written  to-day  should 
j  be  woven  and  wreathed  into  other  figures  and  expressions 
I  to-morrow  ;  and  thus  repetition,  one  of  the  most  efficient 
1  means  for  memory's  aid,  invested  with  all  the  charm  of 
1  novelty. 

Twenty  minutes  a  day  with  young  pupils  will  often 


THE  PLACE  OF  MEMORY  IN  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION.      43 

have  a  double  value  if  ten  be  given  to  the  forenoon  and 
ten  to  the  afternoon. 

To  pronounce  or  spell  a  word  twice  or  twenty  times 
in  immediate  succession,  if  correctly  done  at  the  first  trial, 
may  possibly  make  a  deeper  impression,  but  will  have 
little  effect  in  giving  it  a  lasting  hold. 

And  when  a  page  is  read  with  ease,  and  perhaps  re- 
peated without  the  book,  though  it  may  be  of  some  use 
in  teaching  expression  or  as  a  subject  for  conversation, 
yet  as  a  reading-lesson  it  has  served  its  purpose,  and 
should  give  place  to  something  else.  Its  further  use  is 
rather  to  stifle  thought,  and  make  of  our  thinking  pupils 
little  else  than  prating  parrots. 

Even  upon  the  most  enduring  tablets  the  names  and 
inscriptions  become  moss-covered  and  illegible,  unless 
renewed  at  times  by  the  mallet  and  chisel  of  some  Old 
Mortality,  and  the  lessons  of  our  early  school  life,  without 
an  occasional  recall,  fade  and  escape  us  before  the  high- 
school  examination ;  and,  with  a  return  in  each  grade  to 
some  preceding  principles  of  the  earlier  grades,  some  new 
relation  or  application  can  be  shown  for  which  the  pupil 
was  not  at  first  prepared.  It  is  a  frequent  and  sad  mis- 
take to  suppose  that  a  subject  must  be  completed  at  the 
first  consideration  of  it. 

"With  the  lower  grades,  too,  as  well  as  with  the  higher, 
an  escape  from  monotony  and  a  livelier  interest  may  be 
secured  by  the  magnetic  attrition  and  generous  rivalry  of 
different  minds.  Not  only  in  the  saving  of  time  and  the 
multiplying  of  the  teacher's  efficiency,  but  in  the  quality 
of  the  work,  a  class  of  ten  or  twenty  is  far  better  than 
one  or  two.  The  wise  teacher  will  seek,  of  course,  to  dis- 
cern and  regard  the  peculiarities  of  the  individual  pupils, 
but  individual  instruction  without  the  class  is  almost  of 
necessity  inferior  instruction. 


44  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

The  wealthy  may  employ  the  private  tutor  in  the 
home,  but  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  full-rounded  training 
that  results  from  the  contact  of  mind  with  mind.  The 
suggestions  of  another's  reading  or  recitation,  the  quick- 
ening of  the  mind,  the  alertness  of  thought  in  detecting 
errors,  the  skill  and  power  of  expression  in  making  proper 
corrections,  these  are  often  quite  as  valuable  as  the  teach- 
ings of  the  book,  and  poorly  does  the  teacher  appreciate 
the  appliances  of  her  art  who  allows  the  pupil  after  his 
own  recitation  to  turn  to  some  other  branch  while  his 
fellows  are  reciting. 

Often  a  class  of  sixty  even,  in  some  kinds  of  work, 
derive  as  much  benefit  as  if  each  were  the  solitary  object 
of  the  teacher's  care.  The  very  errors  of  his  fellows  will 
sometimes  fix  the  correct  principle  in  the  memory,  as  his 
own  study  had  failed  to  do. 

On  some  sample  pages  of  a  revised  edition  of  "  Brown's 
Grammar,"  just  received,  I  find  :  "  The  bird ;  The  bird 
sings  ;  The  bird  on  the  tree."  "Now,"  he  says,  "  we  are 
prepared  for  a  definition  of  language." 

For  the  advanced  student,  able  to  discuss  intelligently 
the  fitness  of  the  definition,  yes.  For  the  young  pupil, 
why  ?  It  teaches  him  nothing.  He  knows  what  lan- 
guage is  as  well  as  Brown.  It  is  what  he  says  ;  is  talk. 
No  definition  can  enable  him  to  know  any  better.  For 
the  hair-splitter  it  maybe  a  good  test  of  his  acuteness  and 
ingenuity.  "Language,"  says  Brown,  "is  the  expression 
of  our  thoughts."  What  are  thought  and  expression  ? 
."What  relation  is  expressed  by  of?  What  if  I  express  not 
my  thought,  but  yours  ?  What  if  I  read  or  talk,  as  we 
say,  without  expression  ?  Is  it  language  ?  Does  the 
learner  know  more  than  before  ?  You  have  all  heard  of 
Plato's  man. 

The   meanings  of  these  new  words  are  to  be  learned 


le 

I 


THE  PLACE  OF  MEMORY  IN  SCHOOL   INSTRUCTION.      4.5 

first  by  explanation,  by  employing  them  in  various  ways, 
but  not  by  definition  alone.  No  one  becomes  an  elegant 
writer  or  speaker,  or  gets  the  nicer  shades  of  meaning,  by 
dictionary  only.  This  is  to  be  gained  by  thoughtful  and 
varied  reading  of  good  authors,  and  by  use  and  practice.  | 
But  for  the  pupil  in  the  primary  grades  let  him  get  the 
correct  idea,  the  thought,  but  not  in  set  form  of  words 
Let  him  learn  no  rules,  no  definitions,  till  he  can  make  his 
own.  Then  he  can  memorize  the  best  form  understand-  - 
ingly.  That  only  is  to  be  learned  by  rote  that  is  un- 
changeable. Extracts  of  poetry,  and  sometimes  of  prose, 
those  crystals  of  thought  that  must  remain,  as  pure,  as 
durable  as  the  diamond,  may  well  be  memorized  and 
made  familiar. 

When  the  pupil  has  become  so  well  acquainted  with 
most  of  the  common  words  and  their  meanings  that  he 
can  detect  them  at  a  half-glance,  as  he  can  his  dog,  his 
book,  or  his  brother,  and  those  ever-recurring  forms,  as  a, 
the,  of,  to,  for,  and  but,  have  almost  ceased  to  seem  as 
separate  words  ;  when  his  thought  can  run  forward  like 
an  advanced  guard  ahead  of  his  utterances,  to  remove  all 
hindrances  from  his  way,  the  memory  is  but  just  prepared 
to  gather  the  richer  treasures  strewed  along  the  route  of 
his  conquering  march ;  to  grasp  the  thoughts  that  have 
been  hidden  within  those  mastered  sentences,  and  to  dis- 
tinguish the  gem  from  the  glittering  gaud. 

Then  may  he  take  the  thought  from  its  old  setting, 
and  fit  it  to  other  uses ;  from  the  recorded  deed  detect 
the  character  ;  from  the  plan,  the  secret  purpose. 

We  sometimes  blame  our  children  for  reading  books 
for  the  story,  and  yet,  if  the  story  be  worth  the  while, 
is  it  not  a  high,  a  useful  art  ?  In  the  multitude  of 
things  to  read,  is  it  not  a  worthy  aim  to  learn  to  gath- 
er and  store  up  the  best ;  to  be  able  to  give  the  sub- 


46  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

stance  of  a  page  from  a  single  reading,  a  close  but  rapid 
survey  ? 

And  in  numbers,  too,  it  would  seem  that  in  the  earlier 
grades  much  of  it  is  rather  a  matter  of  memory  than  of 
mathematics. 

The  child  of  a  year  knows  that  he  has  more  thumbs 
than  mouths  ;  and  at  three,  that  a  whole  apple  is  more 
than  a  half. 

One,  two,  three,  four,  might  just  as  well  have  been, 
zig,  zag,  pen,  lun.  The  boy  of  six  knows  that  this  and 
that  make  these,  the  sum  of  the  two ;  that  ten  and  one 
are  more  than  ten.  "Nine  and  three?"  "Seven,"  I 
fancy  here  is  generally  an  ignorance  of  words  rather  than 
of  numbers.  Place  nine  pennies  and  three  pennies  before 
him,  he  does  not  choose  the  seven. 

I  consider  myself  somewhat  familiar  with  the  alpha- 
bet, but  it  was  not  so  long  ago  that  I  first  learned  to  re- 
peat it  backward,  and  should  not  feel  sure  of  it  now  un- 
less I  should  repeat  it  rapidly. 

When  writing  this  page,  I  stopped  to  ask  myself  what 
letter  stands  next  before  "I,"  and  found  myself  at 
fault,  till  I  commenced  above  and  followed  down  till  I 
reached  it. 

Ask  the  young  learner  what  comes  next  after  ten,  and 
he  answers  five,  not  because  he  thinks  this  is  more  than 
these,  but  because  he  has  not  memorized  the  words,  the 
names  for  each. 

One  and  one,  six  and  two,  seven  plus  three,  three 
from  four,  nine  less  seven,  four  plus  five,  six  times  three, 
two  in  eight,  seem  to  me  all  memory,  acquired  by  use  and 
practice,  practice  perpetual  to  become  familiar  with  the 
words,  the  names,  and  should  always  be  verified  with  ob- 
jects till  the  correct  understanding  is  gained.  And  learn- 
ing the  multiplication-table  is  but  memorizing  the  results 


THE  PLACE  OF  MEMORY  IX  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION.      47 

of  additions.  It  is  much  as  it  would  be  for  us  to  learn  the 
second  letter  after  c ;  the  fourth  after  m  ;  third  before  u  ; 
sixth  before  h  ;  fifth  after  0.  Drudgery  ?  Monotony  ? 
I  grant  it — often  the  veriest  essence  of  it,  unless  relieved 
and  enlivened  by  some  pleasing  devices.  No  reason,  no 
skill  or  ingenuity,  but  dull,  dead,  deadening  monotony 
and  drudgery.  Fortunately,  with  our  decimal  system  the 
monotony  is  limited,  and  after  ten  or  twelve,  at  the  most, 
we  rise  to  a  higher  plane  of  mental  activity,  where  reason 
and  skill  find  a  sphere  for  active  employment  and  de- 
velopment. 

As  in  learning  to  read,  so  here  the  short  but  often-re- 
peated exercise,  the  small  daily  accretions,  the  introduc- 
tion of  blocks,  cards,  any  little  objects,  lines,  figures  on  • 
the  blackboard,  making  the  numbers  the  means  to  some 
end  or  purpose,  some  concrete  problem — these  and  many 
other  ways  can  furnish  variety  and  pleasure.  The  multi- 
plication-table can,  perhaps,  be  learned  as  quick,  and  pos- 
sibly quicker,  by  the  simple  memorizing  of  words  without 
any  objects  ;  but  in  the  first  attempts  the  words  need  to 
become  so  closely  associated  with  the  things  that  they 
shall  be  inseparable  in  the  thought ;  that  six  shall  be  six 
some  things.  As  the  Concord  philosophers  would  say,  we 
need  to  "is"  them,  to  "thing"  things. 

Beyond  these  elementary  lessons  arithmetic  should  be 
relieved  of  the  bonds  of  routine.  Analysis,  brief,  simple, 
free  from  vain  repetitions  and  mummeries  of  words  ;  logic, 
clear,  direct,  the  plain  ivhat?  and  what?  and  how? — what 
have  we  ?  what  do  we  want  ?  and  how  do  we  obtain  it  ? 

Then  should  come  practice,  making  familiar  with  the  | 
forms  and  methods  of  business,  of  daily  life,  how  and 
what  men  buy  and  sell,  the  expedients  by  which  credit  is 
made  available,  and  how  the  records  of  transactions  are 
kept,  the  terms  in  daily  use.    But,  let  the  subject  be  well 


48  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

understood  before  beginning  to  formulate  rules  and  the- 
ories. 

Use  is  the  fresh  fruit  in  its  season,  and  formulated 
rules  but  the  dried  apples,  the  canned  peaches  stored  up 
for  the  winter's  supply. 

Nor  do  the  true  sphere  and  function  of  memory  be- 
come less  important  when  we  come  to  the  study  of  facts 
and  events,  in  what  are  sometimes  called  the  information 
branches — those  studies  of  man,  political  and  social,  found 
in  history,  and  somewhat  at  least  in  geography  :  his  prog- 
ress and  development  in  the  past,  his  industries  and 
amusements,  his  life,  his  location,  his  condition,  his  mi- 
gration and  conflicts,  internal  and  foreign ;  those  studies 
where  experiment  and  illustration  are  excluded,  and  dia- 
gram and  apparatus  superfluous ;  where  it  seems  all  mem- 
ory, and  too  often  proves  all  memorizing,  pure  and  simple. 
But  it  should  be  remembered  that  names  and  dates, 
battles  and  revolutions,  statistics  and  genealogies  of  kings 
and  chiefs,  are  in  themselves  as  worthless  as  the  lives  of 
most  of  the  actors,  excej)t  in  their  relation  to  some  impor- 
tant principle,  tending  to  the  advancement  or  degradation 
of  mankind ;  save  as  they  stand  as  representatives  of  some 
;  grand  movement  or  suggestion  of  causes,  resulting  in  the 
,;  welfare  or  misery  of  society ;  something  from  which  we 
\  may  learn  the  paths  that  lead  to  success  and  well-being ; 
how  we  may  better  promote  the  freedom  with  the  depend- 
ence of  the  individual ;  cultivate  the  affections  protected 
by  the  sanctity  of  the  home  ;  and  secure  to  a  great  people 
the  intelligent  and  unobstructed  pursuit  of  their  own 
aims  and  interests,  under  the  protection  of  a  stable, 
strong,  firm,  just,  and  far-reaching  government,  resting 
upon  the  enlightened  choice  of  the  governed.  We  have 
yet  to  learn  how  capital  and  labor,  those  essential  ele- 
ments of  aligrowth,  always  associated,  but,  if  out  of  poise, 


THE  PLACE  OF  MEMORY  IN  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION.     49 

always  antagonistic  and  destructive,  like  opposite  elec- 
tricities, may  be  balanced  and  blended  into  the  perfect 
•vitality  of  the  highest  health  and  happiness. 

For  all  the  uses  of  history,  the  memory  must  grasp  \ 
with  retentive  hold,  not  words  but  ideas,  not  forms  of  \ 
framed  phrases  but  thoughts. 

There  may  be  expressions  so  deftly  combined  that  the 
very  words  are  things  to  be  retained  as  a  joy  forever  ;  but 
more  often,  in  the  effort  at  verbal  accuracy,  the  pupil 
loses  sight  of  the  thought,  and  in  a  little  time  the  recita- 
tion becomes  but  a  meaningless  repetition  of  unconsidered, 
undigested  sentences. 

Mere  words  without  the  thought  are  but  shadowy 
forms,  and  the  effort  to  recall  the  fact  is  too  often  like 
the  attempt  of  ^Eneas  to  embrace  the  shade  of  his  father, 
when  "Thrice  through  his  clasping  arms  the  shadowy 
image  escaped  him." 

Nor  is  the  fact  learned  in  set  phrase  often  available 
for  future  use.  We  learn  one  thing  here  and  another 
there,  but  do  not  often  wish  to  use  them  in  the  same  rela- 
tions. 

Most  of  what  we  call  originality  of  expression  or  of 
thought  is  but  a  rearrangement,  a  new  setting,  with  differ- 
ent workmanship,  for  other  uses.  Perhaps,  too,  on  a  whole 
page  there  may  be  but  one  or  two  points  of  value  for  our 
present  use,  and  far  better  than  memorizing  the  page  is 
the  power  to  discern  these  points.  The  memory  has  its 
limits,  and  the  amount  of  matter  forbids  the  memorizing 
of  all,  and  hardly  can  the  pupil  too  early  learn  to  cull 
from  the  unsorted  mass  what  is  suited  to  his  purpose. 

Think  of  memorizing  one  of  our  morning  papers,  with 
a  supplement !  Yet  no  one  can  fail  to  find  something  of 
interest. 

In  this  direction  should  the  instruction  be  directed. 
5 


50  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

Let  the  lesson  be  first  gone  over  with  the  teacher,  and  by 
'  question  and  suggestion  the  leading  points  noted  ;  the  dif- 
ficult expressions  sometimes  made  plainer ;  reference  to 
other  sources  made  ;  the  argument,  or  causes  and  effects, 
traced. 

Then  may  the  pupil  begin  the  study  and  preparation 
with  definite  purpose  and  success,  and  often  but  little 
more  study  will  be  required  for  parts  of  the  lesson.  In- 
stead of  memorizing  two  or  three  hundred  words,  a  half- 
dozen  clear  thoughts  are  to  be  fixed  in  the  memory. 

And  these  are  not  be  recalled  by  sheer  force,  but  will 

:be  so  related  that  the  one  follows  the  other  by  natural, 

teasy  suggestion.     The  first  attempts  to  run  the  author's 

round  of  words  in  recitation  should  be  checked,  and  the 

pupil  put  upon  an  intelligent  path. 

The  rapid  utterance,  the  indistinct  enunciation,  the 
expressionless  (because  unthinking)  reproduction  of  an- 
other's words,  will  with  care  soon  give  place  to  a  clear, 
distinct,  and  thoughtful,  though  sometimes  slow  and 
hesitating,  re-creation  of  the  thought  in  his  own  words. 
Not  only  memory,  but  reason  and  judgment,  taste  in  the 

(choice  of  words,  will  have  been  exercised  and  cultivated, 
and  the  pupil  takes  his  seat  a  stronger,  better  trained, 
and  more  accurate  scholar.  He  has  taken  a  step  upward 
as  well  as  onward  ;  his  field  of  vision  is  broader  and  more 
beautiful,  and  far  richer  in  its  promise  of  the  future.  He 
has  learned,  too,  to  think  while  speaking,  to  meet  his  fel- 
lows with  a  manlier  look,  and  is  better  fitted  to  perform 
the  duties  of  a  citizen  in  a  land  where  clear  thought  and 
well-ordered  speech  are  the  seal  of  his  birthright  to  re- 
spect and  honor. 

Far  pleasanter  than  the  glib-tongued  recital  is  that 
look  of  thoughtful  effort  on  the  pupil's  face  during  an 
occasional  momentary  pause  in  his  recital. 


THE  PLACE   OF  MEMORY  IN  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION.      51 

In  this  way  the  few  definite  dates  that  are  important 
in  school  life  may  be  fixed  with  comparative  ease,  and 
they  really  are  fewer  than  sometimes  supposed,  however 
the  books  may  abound  with  them.  Histories,  like  news- 
papers, are  written  for  different  classes  and  different  oc- 
casions, and  the  paper  that  should  omit  the  record  of 
some  base-ball  game,  with  the  errors  made  and  runs  earned 
by  Jones  or  Brown,  would  fail  of  its  purpose  as  truly  as 
in  omitting  England's  doings  in  Egypt.  And  the  many 
dates  and  statistics  are  not  so  much  for  present  memo- 
rizing as  for  occasional  reference.  Who  would  care  to 
know  the  exact  date  of  the  first  settlement  of  all  our 
States,  or  of  the  birth  and  death  of  all  our  Presidents  ? 
Yet  for  special  purposes  any  of  them  may  be  looked  for 
at  some  time.  The  professor  of  history  may  fitly  fur- 
nish his  memorial  storehouse  with  much  that  to  me  would 
be  useless. 

A  few  grand  central  points  may  be  fixed,  and  around  j 
them,  by  some  association,  clustered  many  others  with 
sufficient  definiteness  for  intelligent  use.  You  might 
almost  enumerate  upon  your  fingers  enough  to  place  in 
proper  perspective  the  whole  outline  of  American  or 
English  history.  As  for  the  names  of  all  the  so-called 
early  kings  of  England,  we  might  as  well  learn  the 
names  of  the  commissioners  of  the  hundred  counties  of 
Illinois. 

All  history  is  related,  and  the  parts  should  be  studied, 
not  as  isolated  facts,  but  in  their  connections  now  with 
this  and  now  with  that  correlated  fact,  now  in  their  re- 
semblances and  again  in  their  contrasts,  now  as  causes, 
now  as  results  ;  like  the  parts  of  a  picture,  which,  seen 
as  a  whole,  can  never  be  forgotten,  but,  cut  out  and  ex- 
hibited each  by  itself,  would  be  unmeaning  and  quickly 
lapse  into  well-deserved  forgetfulness. 


52  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

Often,  again,  some  striking  incident  or  personal  allu- 
i  sion,  some  anecdote  or  pithy  remark,  will  vivify  and  after- 
ward recall  the  whole. 

In  nothing,  perhaps,  more  than  in  geography  does 
that  full  understanding,  that  clear  perception,  without 
which  there  can  be  no  useful  memory,  fail  of  its  realiza- 
tion. 

The  very  imagination  of  the  child,  which  enables  him 
so  readily  to  grasp  supposed  facts,  here  often  but  inten- 
sifies the  mischief.  The  ideas  which  he  forms  upon  many 
subjects  are  often  as  wonderful  as  they  are  natural.  That 
oft-told  incident  in  one  of  our  own  schools,  where  a  pu- 
pil had  been  told  that  "  The  ox  took  the  food  into  his  sec- 
ond stomach  and  digested  it,"  which  he  reproduced  at 
examination  in  the  form  that  "  It  took  it  into  its  stomach 
and  died  yesterday,"  is  not  an  exaggerated  example. 

What  must  be  the  mental  picture  of  the  pupil  of  the 
fourth  grade,  commencing  the  study  of  geography  with 
those  astronomical  and  metaphysical  puzzles  and  conun- 
drums concerning  the  motions  of  the  earth,  the  circles, 
zones,  races  of  men,  religions,  governments,  and  stages  of 
civilization,  those  broad  generalizations  and  classifications 
by  which  the  sages  and  philosphers  are  sometimes  mazed 
and  befogged  ! 

Not  much  wonder  that  the  little  girl,  after  a  fluent 
memoriter  recital  of  these  mysteries,  upon  being  asked  if 
she  had  ever  seen  the  earth,  promptly  but  very  properly 
answered  in  the  negative. 

Let  the  pupil  rather  commence  with  what  he  knows  ; 
give  him  a  starting-point  where  he  can  feel  that  he  is 
dealing  with  verities,  where  he  can  verify  his  conclusions. 
JHts  first  geography-lessons  may  well  be  of  the  school- 
room, fixing  localities,  getting  directions,  learning  north 
and  south,  east  and  west ;  let  him  plan  it  on  his  slate  or 


THE  PLACE  OF  MEMORY  IN  SCHOOL  INSTRUCTION.      53 

the  blackboard.  Let  him  then  study  his  district,  with 
some  of  its  streets  and  prominent  buildings.  My  own 
geographical  knowledge  has  always  been  bereft  of  half  its 
value  from  my  early  study  of  the  map  facing  the  south  ; 
and  to-day  I  have  to  make  a  mental  conversion — the  east 
of  the  map  is  always  the  west  of  the  real  world.  The 
map  of  the  world,  the  hemispheres,  should  always  be  pre- 
ceded by  the  globe  or  some  spherical  object. 

More  than  one  college-learned  man  have  I  seen  caught 
by  the  very  simple  trap  of  asking  him  the  direction  of  the 
north  pole  from  Australia. 

Not  much  minute  detail  need  be  learned,  or  latitudes 
and  longitudes  memorized.  With  the  fullest  and  most 
minute  study  the  map  must  be  brought  out  whenever  a 
Franco-Prussian  or  Egyptian  war  is  on  the  stage.  Places 
start  at  once  into  prominence  which  had  never  found  an 
assignment  on  the  map.  It  matters  not  so  much  what 
form  of  words  is  used  in  this  early  school  life.  The  clear 
conception  of  the  things,  the  facts,  is  essential.  And  for 
this  there  are  no  other  witnesses  so  credible  and  reliable 
as  sight  and  touch.  The  object,  the  picture,  the  ball, 
map,  diagram— all  are  to  be  seen,  examined,  made,  if  pos- 
sible. Then  we  may  afterward  be  as  careful  as  we  will  in 
the  choice  of  our  words  and  the  forms  of  our  definition. 

When  memory  shall  take  its  proper  place  and  our  pu- 
pils be  taught  to  observe,  to  think,  to  do,  instead  of  to 
memorize  and  repeat,  then  will  the  growth  of  our  pupils 
compel  the  respect  of  the  wise  for  our  schools,  and  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  be  for  the  sustenance  and 
health  of  the  people. 


54:  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

IV. 
THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GROWTH  IN  SCHOOL-LIFE. 

THAT  memory  should  have  played  so  prominent  a  part 
in  our  school-life  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  as  it  is,  per- 
haps, the  most  important  and  mysterious  of  our  mental 
faculties — the  one  faculty  that  makes  all  the  others  of  any 
worth,  binding  by  its  infinite  attractions  the  separate 
atoms  of  existence  into  one  glorious  whole,  affording  the 
possibility  of  a  reasonable,  intelligent  life.  Nor  can  the 
value  of  its  marvelous  powers  be  overestimated,  nor  too 
careful  heed  be  given  to  its  proper  training  and  develop- 
ment. It  is  only  the  misapplication  of  its  forces  that  is 
sometimes  deplored,  when,  instead  of  acting  as  an  all- 
pervading  gravitation,  molding  the  bright  family  of 
worlds  and  holding  planets  and  suns  in  their  harmonious 
circles,  it  would  supplant  the  living  principles  of  growth 
and  progress,  dragging  the  unvitalized  star-dust  of  the 
mental  universe  down  to  a  shapeless  chaos  of  darkness  and 
death. 

The  first  conscious  act  of  the  child's  awakening  in- 
telligence is  to  observe — to  see,  to  hear,  to  touch.  How 
yague  and  shadowy  the  procession  that  passes  over  his 
tender  sensorium  !  And  yet  these  sensations  are  to  be 
the  alphabet  by  which  the  world  and  its  occupants  are  to 
be  revealed  to  him  ;  his  reasonings  and  conclusions  there- 
on shall  constitute  his  wisdom ;  and  the  conduct  to  which 
they  shall  lead  him  be  the  determination  of  his  useful- 
ness and  the  condition  of  his  happiness. 

To  observe,  to  think,  to  do — the  three  elements  of  all 
progress,  without  whose  perfect  blending  all  education 
must  be  sadly  deficient  and  incomplete,  and  our  best  efforts 
illusory  and  ineffective — in  what  sweet  accord  they  unite 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GROWTH  IN  SCHOOL-LIFE.        55 

during  the  early  years,  when  the  young  being  is  adjust- 
ing itself  to  its  new  surroundings,  and  getting  its  powers 
of  body  and  mind  well  in  hand  for  the  outreaching  life  ; 
and  how  ready  the  reward  to  his  ever-delightsome  efforts  ! 
With  no  motive  power  but  his  own  natural  desires,  no 
guidance  save  their  speediest  gratification,  his  advance, 
both  in  knowledge  and  power,  might  well  put  to  the  blush 
the  maturer  guardians  of  his  later  life.  And  if,  upon  his 
entering  school,  we  are  to  be  of  service  in  leading  him  by 
wiser  ways,  it  will  be,  not  by  checking  his  childish  curi- 
osity, but  by  giving  it  a  surer  direction  ;  not  in  quench- 
ing any  one  of  his  desires,  but  in  pointing  to  higher 
gratifications ;  not  by  diminishing  his  happiness,  but  by 
helping  him  to  make  it  more  perfect  and  enduring ;  not 
by  calling  a  halt  to  his  new-born  powers,  but  by  directing 
him  how  he  may  observe  more  accurately,  think  more 
clearly,  and  act  more  efficiently,  because  more  wisely. 

But  by  the  most  earnest  and  well-directed  efforts  little 
would  be  gained,  and  we  should  all  be  but  savages  at  the 
last,  should  we  depend  solely  upon  ourselves — could  we 
not,  on  stepping-stones  of  the  dead  past,  availing  our- 
selves of  the  world's  wisdom,  already  won,  rise  thereon  to 
greater  heights.  And  where  but  to  the  written,  the 
printed  volume  shall  we  turn  for  the  best  and  fullest 
records,  or  where  else  make  faithful  minute  of  our  own 
successes  and  failures  ?  Language — reading  and  writing 
— is  the  key  that  shall  unlock  the  treasures  of  the  past, 
and  in  the  mastery  of  this  will  be  found  the  chief  employ- 
ment of  the  early  school-life. 

But  language  is  the  expression  of  thought,  and  with- 
out this  the  ready  calling  of  words  is  of  no  more  worth 
than  the  twitter  and  chirping  of  birds,  and  from  the  first 
the  two  should  always  be  associated — the  thought  suggest- 
ing the  word,  the  word  the  thought,  forever  inseparable. 
y^V  OP  THE 


56  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

But,  till  the  mind  has  somewhat  furnished  itself  with 
ideas,  hanging  its  walls  with  pictures,  and  storing  its 
secret  cells  with  abstractions  for  study  and  contemplation, 
the  thought  must  come  as  a  suggestion  of  the  senses,  those 
silent  but  watchful  messengers  waiting  ever  upon  our 
waking  hours  to  minister  to  our  needs  and  pleasures,  and 
making  report  of  aught  that  may  concern  our  welfare. 
Beadiest  to  our  hand  comes  the  visible  object — the  hat, 
the  book,  the  man  ;  then  the  easily  recognized  representa- 
tion, the  picture,  followed  in  due  time  by  the  arbitrary 
sign,  the  word,  the  name.  Even  now,  too,  may  the  in- 
terest of  the  pupil  be  quickened  by  letting  him  tell,  in 
simple,  easy  word  and  sentence,  what  he  has  already 
learned,  and  leading  him  on  to  discover  something  as  yet 
unknown  to  him — his  little  errors  of  speech  by  use  set 
right,  the  strangeness  of  the  school-room  and  the  un- 
wonted sound  of  his  own  voice  there  made  sweetly 
familiar,  and  his  foreign  lip  soon  beginning  to  curve  in 
loyal  lines. 

Now  may  he,  by  easy,  quick  transition,  try  to  make 
himself  the  words ;  or,  perchance,  essay  with  unskilled 
hand  his  first  attempt  at  art  in  the  little  picture  of  the 
hat,  the  book,  the  man.  Soon  will  the  apparent  love  and 
gentle  sympathy  of  the  teacher  begin  to  be  reflected  in 
his  own  confiding  face  and  glistening  eye.  There  must 
be  ever  the  thing  to  suggest  the  thought,  the  thought  ex- 
pressing itself  in  words,  the  word  fitly  framed  in  the  sen- 
tence, and  made  visible  on  the  slate  or  page,  and  the  sen- 
tence woven  so  as  to  produce  mental  pictures,  like  the 
changing  kaleidoscope,  ever  fresh*  and  new ;  thought 
again  suggesting  thought,  making  study  an  inspiration 
and  labor  a  delight. 

At  every  step  of  his  progress,  even  'to  make  progress 
possible,  there  must  be  something  new,  some  new  arrange- 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GROWTH  IN  SCHOOL-LIFE.        57 

ment  of  old  material,  something  for  the  pupil  to  handle, 
examine,  to  find  out  for  himself ;  something  for  him  to 
think,  to  reason  about ;  something  to  devise,  to  invent, 
to  do  ;  some  desirable  purpose  to  accomplish.  The  very 
effort,  which  might  otherwise  be  but  the  essence  of 
drudgery  and  dullness,  may,  with  a  due  motive  presented, 
awakening  his  childish  spirit,  become  like  the  glad  motion 
of  a  new  life.  It  is  but  the  Dead  Sea  fruit  of  a  perished 
and  bitter  past,  the  thought  that  labor,  that  work  is  and 
must  be  irksome.  In  the  ardor  of  conflict  the  soldier  is 
not  conscious  of  the  wounds  he  receives,  nor  any  more 
does  the  student  think  of  the  toil,  in  view  of  the  end  to 
be  attained.  It  is  the  aimless,  fruitless,  compelled  toil 
that  burdens  and  degrades,  against  which  the  free  heart 
rebels,  and  which  the  weary  drudge  seeks  to  shirk. 

The  motive  may  be  a  fortune  to  be  won,  a  future 
home,  or  empty  fame  ;  or,  for  the  little  ones,  more  valued 
still,  and  more  efficient,  a  pleasant  look  of  recognition,  a 
kindly  word,  a  well-earned  commendation,  or  even  the 
consciousness  of  successful  accomplishment.  If  for  one 
taste  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  our  parents  threw  paradise 
away,  surely  for  the  banquet  to  which  the  wise  teacher 
leads,  these  little  ones  will  gladly  seek  it  again.  Toil 
for  the  sake  of  toil  is  not  labor,  nor  suffering  for  the  sake 
of  suffering,  martyrdom  ;  and  subjection  to  unworthy  im- 
position is  not  a  desirable  or  useful  discipline. 

When  the  pupil  has  advanced,  as  he  will  have  done, 
perhaps  by  the  end  of  the  first  term,  so  as  profitably  to 
use  the  book  in  reading,  a  new  and  fruitful  field  opens 
before  him.  The  words  that  he  has  already  learned  stand 
out  bright  and  clear,  but  in  a  different  order,  to  tell  him 
tales  of  new  interest.  Not  now  does  the  teacher  need  to 
stand  over  each,  one  by  one,  pointing  with  pencil  or  fin- 
ger at  the  unmeaning  words,  while  the  rest  of  the  class 


58  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

are  gazing  listlessly  around,  or  covertly  working  out  their 
roguish  devices  ;  but  as  they  already  had  gathered  before 
the  chart  or  blackboard,  so  can  they  now  take  their 
places,  an  interested  class,  pleased  to  apprehend  the 
thoughts  expressed  in  the  well-known  characters.  They 
have  the  material  prepared,  so  that  instead  of  blundering 
blindly  and  hopelessly  over  the  darksome  way,  they  find 
the  little  mental  pictures  folio  wing  in  pleasing  variety  be- 
fore their  minds,  as  they  compass  line  after  line, 

In  telling  of  what  they  have  read,  they  have  no  longer 
the  trouble  of  repeating  the  precise  words  as  read,  for  the 
familiar  image  is  before  them,  and  with  an  ever-increasing 
and  more  clearly-defined  vocabulary,  and  more  correct 
idiom,  can  they  reproduce  the  story,  as  they  would  de- 
scribe an  object  or  a  picture  presented  to  the  eye.  Now, 
too,  they  may  be  led  to  make  their  own  little  stories,  or 
give  descriptions  of  what  they  have  seen  ;  by  nicer  per- 
ception to  discern  new  qualities,  or  uses  of  articles  in  the 
room  or  at  home,  and  ere  long  place  them  in  visible  form 
on  their  slates,  converting  their  talks  into  veritable  com- 
positions. 

That  old  bugbear  of  composition  will  soon  disappear 
when  we  understand  that  it  is  simply  putting  on  paper 
what  we  have  made  familiar  by  discussion  or  study,  or 
perhaps  what  we  have  already  said.  Like  that  pointing 
with  pencil  or  finger,  to  which  I  have  alluded,  many  of  the 
faults  which  we  find  it  so  difficult  to  remedy  in  after 
days  and  years,  are  faults  into  which  we  ourselves  have 
led  them  by  our  early  methods,  or  want  of  method. 

This  clear  perception  of  the  thought  is  the  basis  of 
all  their  mental  life.  In  the  neglect  of  this  lies  the  lack 
of  expression  m  reading,  so  often  noticeable  not  only  in 
the  lower  but  in  the  higher  grades,  and  sometimes  in  can- 
didates for  a  teacher's  certificate.  There  is  no  expression, 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GROWTH  IN  SCHOOL-LIFE.        59 

because  there  is  nothing  to  express.  It  is  a  mere  calling 
of  empty  words  and  barren  sentences.  It  is  often  a 
physical  rather  than  a  mental  act,  and  even  in  that  re- 
spect is  little  better  than  a  failure  ;  for  the  absence  of 
thought  has  left  uncalled  for  the  clearer,  distinct  enun- 
ciation, the  nicer  inflections  and  shades  of  meaning, 
which  demand  skill  in  the  use  of  the  organs  of  speech. 
Such  an  exercise  dulls  the  perceptions,  deadens  the  sensi- 
bilities, and  dwarfs  the  reason,  and  returns  the  pupil  to 
his  seat  a  more  inattentive,  weaker,  and  stupider  scholar 
than  before. 

Nor  does  the  evil  end  here.  It  has  made  the  next 
lesson  more  difficult.  What  the  pupil  might  have  accom- 
plished with  profit  and  delight,  had  the  previous  lesson 
been  clearly  understood,  finding  but  an  added  inspiration, 
from  his  very  habit  of  success,  over  the  little  hindrances 
in  his  path,  now  appears  an  insurmountable  obstacle, 
from  which  his  indolent  nature  shrinks  unabashed.  Nor 
yet  have  we  exhausted  the  evil.  Like  all  physical  and 
moral  decay,  it  spreads  and  perpetuates  itself.  Over  the 
enchanting  pages  of  history  or  biography,  from  which, 
with  a  thrill  of  joyous  exultation,  he  should  be  able  to 
extract  the  worth  by  a  single  perusal,  he  stumbles  and 
blunders  wearily  and  uninformed.  And  if,  as  in  the  last 
struggles  of  expiring  hope,  he  essays  with  convulsive  en- 
ergy the  task  with  contracted  brow  and  clutching  his  hair 
— you  have  seen  him  study — he  begins  :  "  That  night, 
leaving  his  camp-fires" — "that  night,  leaving  his  camp- 
fires" — "that  night,  leaving  his  camp-fires" — "burn- 
ing to  deceive  the  enemy" — "burning  to  deceive  the 
enemy" — " burning  to  deceive  the  enemy" — "he  swept 
by  country  roads" — "he  swept  by  country  roads" — 
"he  swept  by  country  roads " — "round  the  British" — • 
"round  the  British  "—"  round  the  British."  Words! 


60  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

words  ! !  words  ! ! !  Ask  him  now  of  Washington's  attack 
on  Princeton.  You  can  guess  at  the  result.  He  has  no 
idea  that  reading  is  study. 

This  perfect  union,  this  blending  of  the  word  with 
the  thought,  the  sign  with  the  thing  signified,  at  the 
beginning  does  not  come  from  the  dictionary,  but  from 
use.  It  must,  from  its  very  nature,  be  essentially  accom- 
plished before  grammar  or  dictionary  can  be  of  any  avail. 
And  there  can  be  no  greater  bar  to  success,  no  more  deadly 
foe  to  real  progress,  than  too  early  reliance  upon  either 
of  them.  A  little  book  recently  republished,  written  by 
a  young  Portuguese,  is  a  good  illustration  of  dictionary- 
learning,  equaled  only  by  some  specimens  from  our  own 
schools.  The  foundation  must  be  securely  laid  in  the 
familiar  conversation,  the  examination  and  comparison, 
the  question  and  answer,  as  the  child  has  already  so  suc- 
cessfully begun  to  do  in  the  home  and  on  the  street.  It 
is  astonishing  how  seldom  the  little  Arab  of  the  street,  or 
the  little  cherub  of  the  home,  for  that  matter,  ever  mis- 
applies a  slang  word  or  phrase. 

And  when  he  can  read  with  some  facility,  then  should 
come  the  supplementary  book,  or  little  pages,  which  he 
has  not  already  learned  by  rote  from  listening  to  his  elder 
brothers  or  the  more  advanced  classes — something  which 
has  the  same  words  employed  in  other  relations,  and  with 
different  shades  of  meaning.  Not  by  reading  and  re- 
reading the  same  extract  over  and  over  again,  till  it  can 
be  said  backward  or  forward,  or  either  side  up,  with  equal 
ease,  nor  by  the  long  rhetorical  drill,  does  the  pupil  learn 
to  read.  Not  by  telling  him  to  give  this  or  that  inflec- 
tion or  emphasis,  or  by  parroting  such  and  such  tones, 
does  he  compass  it.  Find  what  he  means  by  his  reading  ; 
why  does  he  read  so  and  so  ?  With  his  own  understand- 
ing, when  he  has  any  at  all,  he  may  be  right,  and,  if 


THE   ELEMENTS  OF  GROWTH  IN  SCHOOL-LIFE.        61 

properly  taught,  will  rarely  be  in  the  wrong,  however  he 
may  differ  from  you  or  me.  The  prattling  tyrants  of  the 
household  do  not  often  err  in  inflection,  emphasis,  or  in- 
tonation. When  the  word,  by  use  and  practice,  has  be- 
come itself  an  embodied  thought,  then  we  can  pass  from 
the  concrete  and  imperfect  to  the  abstract  and  ideal. 
Then  may  we  claim  companionship  with  the  wise  and  great 
of  the  world  and  sit  at  the  banquet  of  the  sages,  fur- 
nished from  all  ages  and  every  clime  with  the  science,  the 
wisdom,  the  wit,  and  the  poetry  of  which  we  can  now  be 
the  appreciative  partakers.  Then,  leaving  the  paths  of 
error  into  which  their  feet  unwittingly  strayed,  and  care- 
fully shunning  the  false  lights  that  have  lured  them  on 
to  danger  and  doubt,  may  we  with  safety  and  assured  suc- 
cess direct  our  course  toward  the  abode  of  a  wise  and 
noble  humanity. 

The  word,  spoken  and  written,  as  the  expression,  the 
embodiment  of  thought,  is  the  vitalizing  element  of  all 
civilization  and  enlightenment,  making  each  of  us  the 
sum  of  all,  rendering  each  onward  step  secure,  and  fur- 
nishing in  its  records  the  foundation  for  further  progress. 
In  the  beginning  of  all  advancement,  with  its  creative 
and  preserving  power,  is  the  word,  and  without  the  word 
there  is  no  accurate,  true  thought. 

Number,  too — the  motive  and  the  measure  of  all  ma- 
terial progress  and  the  explanation  of  so  many  phenome- 
na— must  be  included  in  all  true  education.  A  happy 
day  for  society,  as  well  as  for  the  deserving  teacher,  will 
it  be  when  the  mentometer  shall  be  devised  of  such  deli- 
cate construction  as  to  enable  us  to  record  and  present  to 
the  public  eye  the  quantity  and  quality  of  mental  and 
moral  growth  and  development,  when  our  record-books 
can  be  read  as  easily  as  their  ledgers. 

Nor  will  the  value  of  the  study  of  numbers  be  less- 


62  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

ened  when  we  shall  rid  ourselves  of  the  old-tiine  error 
that  it  is  the  true  test  of  mental  power — that  he  who  is 
good  in  figures  is  good  in  everything.  By  trying  to  secure 
too  much,  we  may  lose  our  hold  upon  the  true  benefits  to  be 
derived.  There  are  mathematicians  and  mathematicians ; 
some  of  sound  judgment  and  intellect  have  I  met,  and 
some  numerical  cranks.  In  pure  mathematics  we  reason 
from  definitions,  certain  and  unvarying,  which,  in  the 
real  world,  in  the  contact  of  mind  with  mind,  we  never 
have,  but  deal  largely  with  probabilities  and  presumed 
motives,  where  success  depends  largely  upon  knowledge 
of  character,  of  men,  and  upon  skill  in  forecasting  re- 
sults. 

Not  only  facility  in  the  use  of  numbers,  but  clear 
perception  and  sound  judgment  in  obtaining  correct  data, 
and  prompt,  decisive,  and  skillful  action,  are  needed  in 
the  affairs  of  life.  Though  mathematical  has  little  in 
common  with  moral  reasoning,  yet  the  mathematical  sense 
— skill  in  the  application  of  numbers — is  important  alike 
to  the  banker  and  the  artist,  the  astronomer  and  the  poet, 
the  musician  and  the  housekeeper.  Here,  too,  should 
the  child's  early,  his  natural  method  be  regarded.  We 
should  seek,  not  to  obstruct  and  dam  the  sparkling  cur- 
rent of  the  child-nature,  producing  but  a  stagnant  marsh, 
or  at  best  a  dull  canal,  but  to  guide  it  in  gradually  deep- 
ening channels  by  a  better  way,  through  greener  meadows 
and  more  flowery  fields,  not  where  it  will  be  held  barred 
and  bound  as  by  icy  fetters,  but  with  the  sunlight  playing 
upon  its  surface,  making  sweet  music  of  its  rippling  mur- 
murs, ere  yet  it  learns  with  calmer  flow  to  bear  the  bur- 
dens of  the  merchandise  and  navies  of  the  world. 

To  observe,  to  think,  to  do,  in  sweet  succession  till 
almost  blended  into  one,  are  still  the  threads  of  that 
golden  cord  by  which  the  pupil  is  guided  through  the 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GROWTH  IN   SC  BOOL-LIFE.        63 

mazes  of  ignorance  to  the  light  of  intelligent  life.  Pleased 
with  the  rattle  of  the  nursery,  tickled,  perchance,  with 
the  Kindergarten  straws,  with  pleased  fancy  he  comes 
now  to  the  blocks,  the  buttons,  the  cards  of  the  school- 
room. He  takes  them,  he  handles  them,  he  counts  them 
— combines,  piles,  takes  down,  separates,  and  arranges — 
learning  his  ones,  his  twos,  and  threes  by  short  and  pro- 
gressive steps.  He  learns,  too,  their  names,  and,  in  due 
time,  the  signs,  the  figures,  and  how  to  make  them,  till 
they  become  as  familiar  as  his  own  face  in  the  glass,  and 
he  has  no  more  need  to  count  them  than  to  count  his 
eyes  or  his  ears.  He  may,  perchance,  vary  his  slate-work 
by  little  circles  and  triangles  and  squares,  getting  not 
only  his  addition,  subtraction,  and  multiplication,  but 
the  alphabet  of  his  geometry,  too,  before  he  knows  that 
there  is  such  a  science  as  either.  Nor  would  it  be  amiss 
sometimes  to  deck  his  slate  with  his  attempts  at  men  and 
dogs  and  birds,  singly  or  in  company,  taking  on  drawing 
also  as  one  of  his  unconscious  arts.  What  squads  and 
companies  of  those  rude  slate-soldiers  have  I  drawn  and 
drilled  and  slaughtered  while  sitting  upon  that  board- 
bench  in  the  old  country  school-house  bejieajth^he^hill. 
when  I  was  thought  to  be  bowing  devoutly  over  my 
sums  ! 

When  this  first  year's  work  has  been  now  well  digested 
and  assimilated,  and  become  as  much  a  part  of  his  mental 
nature  as  his  last  year's  dinner  has  of  his  physical,  how 
naturally  falls  in  that  short-hand  way  of  crowning  the 
tens  by  putting  them  in  the  second  place,  in  the  king- 
row,  as  it  were — the  only  royal  way  of  learning !  How 
these  regal  tens  may  lead  their  humble  units  during  the 
second  year  of  assimilation  and  growth  !  Little  use  have 
we  here  for  those  long  lines  and  towering  columns  of  fig- 
ures, as  much  beyond  and  above  the  pupil's  mental  as 


64  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

his  physical  grasp.  And  why  waste  much  time  or  strength 
at  all  on  numbers  higher  than  millions  ?  They  meet  all 
the  requirements  of  ninety-nine  in  a  hundred  of  our  busy 
men  except  in  speaking  of  the  national  debt,  and  the 
naming  of  that  conveys  no  meaning  or  impression  save  a 
general  sense  of  greatness  and  vagueness.  What  oppor- 
tunities here  as  we  advance  to  tempt  the  new-fledged 
souls  to  a  trial  of  their  powers — to  give  them  a  chance 
themselves  to  observe,  to  think,  to  do  ! 

If  the  old  district  school,  whose  glories  are  sung  about 
as- of  ten  and  long  as  those  of  our  mothers'  pies,  had  any 
superior  merit  it  surely  was  not  in  its  methods  of  in- 
struction, but  in  letting  us  alone  to  do  our  sums  at  our 
own  sweet  will.  Yet  in  recalling  those  glad  days  we  all 
forget  the  old  rhymes  : 

Multiplication  is  vexation ; 

Division  is  as  bad ; 
The  rule  of  three  doth  puzzle  me, 

And  fractions  make  me  mad. 

Not  all  happiness  and  courtesy  even  then,  as  is  at- 
tested by  the  usual  last-day  refrain  : 

Good-by,  scholars ;  good-by,  school ; 
Good-by,  master,  and  you're  an  old  fool. 

But  we  may  well  imitate  more  often  the  old  way  of 
letting  pupils  do  for  themselves.  Eainy  days  are  the 
days  for  fishing,  and  why  not,  after  one  of  those  bright 
"  apple  showers  "  of  the  later  autumn,  cut  a  few  of  those 
apples  into  halves  and  quarters  ?  A  boy  can  count  the 
number  of  halves  as  easily  as  that  of  wholes,  and  perhaps 
he  may  devise  a  way  of  writing  to  designate  the  halves 
and  quarters.  None  but  very  young  parents  name  the 
child  before  his  birth.  Without  rule  or  direction  let  him 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GROWTH  IN  SCHOOL-LIFE.        65 

find  out  how  many  square  inches  in  one  face  of  his  slate, 
perhaps  by  marking  it  off  as  a  checker-board  and  count- 
ing the  squares  ;  or,  may  be,  by  a  higher  flight,  counting 
the  rows  and  the  number  in  a  row  ;  the  duller  ones  aided, 
perhaps,  by  asking  them  how  many  panes  in  a  window. 
Let  him  compute  how  many  yards  of  plain  carpeting  will 
cover  the  platform  or  the  floor,  making  his  own  measure- 
ments ;  how  many  of  figured  carpeting.  He  who  suc- 
ceeds will  need  to  learn  no  rule.  He  has  already  learned 
in  the  doing,  and  in  a  manner  that  shall  remain.  Let 
him  draw  the  diagonal,  dividing  into  two  equal  parts, 
and  by  a  little  observation  and  thought  he  has  more  of  a 
triangle  than  is  usually  obtained  from  that  old  confusing 
demonstration  in  the  geometry.  Do  something  to  quicken 
his  dull  nature,  or,  rather,  to  guide  his  restless,  eager, 
longing  nature  into  a  thoughtful,  persistent,  and  useful 
channel,  and  get  rid  of  that  everlasting,  never-ending 
working  of  identical  problems  under  some  given  rule — 
that  burden  and  bane  of  so  many  school-rooms. 

Of  course,  the  whole  country  is  not  yet  subdued  and 
possessed,  but,  following  this  pioneer  work  under  skillful 
guidance,  comes  the  steady  tramp  of  the  trained  battal- 
ions, with  ordnance  and  camp  equipage,  with  stout  hearts 
and  strong  arms,  resistless,  instead  of  becoming  entangled 
in  impenetrable  jungles  and  mired  in  the  morasses  of  the 
wilderness — their  supply-wagons  converted  into  an  ambu- 
lance train  for  the  sick  and  disabled,  the  tattered  banners 
of  the  surviving  few,  if  victorious  at  last,  raised  by  feeble 
hands  over  a  hospital  of  invalids. 

Especially  is  geography  open  to  this  intelligent  work, 
affording  opportunity  for  careful  observation,  from  which 
is  derived  rich  food  for  thought  and  reflection,  leading  to 
useful  and  educating  action.  In  the  school-room  itself, 
with  its  rows  of  desks ;  the  building,  with  its  halls  and 
6 


66  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

rooms  to  be  measured  and  planned  ;  the  adjoining  streets, 
their  width,  and  the  length  of  the  blocks ;  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  district  on  the  slate  or  the  vertical  blackboard 
— may  be  found  the  most  important  elements  of  the 
study.  By  the  use  of  the  sphere  the  cause  of  day  and 
night  may  be  easily  comprehended,  but  not  yet  the  sea- 
sons, with  the  long  days  of  summer  and  the  long  nights 
of  winter.  Knowing  the  circumference  of  the  earth  and 
its  revolution  in  twenty-four  hours,  the  pupil  may  him- 
self determine  how  much  passes  under  the  sun  in  an  hour 
or  minute,  and  the  difference  in  time  between  here  and 
New  York  or  San. Francisco,  and  perhaps  why  the  equator 
and  its  parallels  and  the  meridians  were  devised.  Possi- 
bly the  county  with  its  towns  in  outline  would  not  be 
amiss,  and  the  State  with  its  chief  features  and  towns. 
The  crayon  should  be  as  familiar  to  his  hand  as  the  mus- 
ket to  the  soldier's. 

Let  him  see  how  rivers  are  made,  like  the  Mississippi 
and  its  majestic  confluent,  and  the  broad  delta  at  its 
mouth.  In  the  higher  grade,  when  he  shall  read  in 
"Evangeline,"  for  instance,  "How  the  mighty  father  of 
waters  seizes  the  hills  in  his  hands,  and  drags  them  down 
to  the  ocean,"  he  will  see  the  difference  between  the  sci- 
entist and  the  poet ;  or,  perhaps,  how  the  poet  must  be 
himself  a  man  of  science ;  nay,  rather  a  painter,  a  phi- 
losopher, a  moralist,  a  linguist,  as  well,  often  seeing 
things  beyond  the  scientist's  ken,  evolving  systems  and 
deducing  lessons  of  which  he  never  dreamed.  What 
vistas  of  delight  might  open  before  the  pupil  at  every 
step,  his  only  sorrow  being  that  the  time  was  so  short ! 

The  motive,  the  prime  purpose  of  the  public  school, 
as  may  be  seen  from  its  origin  and  history,  is  intellectual 
culture  ;  and  a  sad  day  for  the  people,  as  well  as  for  the 
schools,  would  it  be  if  this  purpose  should  be  essentially 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GROWTH  IN  SCHOOL-LIFE.        67 

changed,  and  they  primarily  devoted  to  the  training  of 
the  laboring  classes  for  their  several  vocations.  From 
this  intellectual  culture  the  ingenuity  and  versatility  of 
the  American  workman  has  become  almost  proverbial. 
He  may  not  be  in  some  departments  so  perfect  a  machine, 
but  he  is  more  of  a  thinking  man.  Half  a  century  ago, 
when  the  bulk  of  the  population  were  farmers  and  me- 
chanics, and  their  children  were  in  the  district  school  for 
three  months  in  the  summer  and  three  in  the  winter  till 
twelve  or  fourteen  years  of  age,  following  with  a  term  or 
two  at  the  academy  or  select  school,  their  studies  inter- 
spersed with  the  various  labors  of  the  farm  and  the  home, 
there  was  no  thought  or  need  of  aught  else.  For  the 
professional  few  there  was  the  college,  affording  a  little 
more  Latin  and  Greek,  but  much  less  of  science,  than 
the  present  high-school.  But  the  decided  and  rapid  de- 
termination, within  the  last  twenty  years  especially,  of 
the  young  blood  of  the  country  to  the  large  cities  and 
towns — those  centers  of  modern  life — has  changed  the 
conditions,  and,  with  all  our  talk  of  the  new  education, 
it  would  not  be  strange  if  we  should  seem  to  lag  behind 
the  marvelous  movement  of  our  civilization  ;  if,  in  short, 
as  to  meeting  the  requirements  of  the  times,  the  old  dis- 
trict school  should  be  found  fully  in  line  with  the  schools 
of  to-day  with  all  their  improvements.  The  merits  of 
the  district  school  were  little,  but  the  demands  were  less, 
while  ideal  perfection  would  be  counted  among  the  short- 
comings of  to-day.  It  is  not  in  any  lack  of  sympathy 
with  the  activities  of  the  hour  that  we  are  in  fault.  The 
tendency  to  business  is  too  strong  already,  but  largely  to 
those  branches  that  are  commercial  and  speculative  in- 
stead of  to  the  farm  and  the  workshop. 

The  frenzied  cries  and   shoutings  of  the  exchange 
deafen  the  ears  of  our  youth  to  the  calmer  "  call  of  in- 


68  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

cense-breathing  morn,"  and  the  jargon  and  clamor  of 
court  and  forum  drown  the  busy  hum  of  honest  industry. 
Mere  physical  labor  the  children  of  our  schools  and  age 
may  properly  disdain  as  the  lot  of  the  ignorant  and  un- 
fortunate. But  with  the  active  brain  we  need  to  ally 
the  discerning  eye  and  the  skillful  hand,  and  to  our  ac- 
quaintance with  books  to  add  the  knowledge  of  things. 
We  must  seek  to  furnish  to  our  pupils  something  of  that 
which  the  field  and  forest,  the  garden  and  the  workshop, 
supply  to  his  brother  in  the  country. 

The  three  learned  professions  of  our  fathers  no  longer 
monopolize  the  trained  intellect  of  to-day ;  and  in  the 
ability  to  perceive,  to  think,  to  do,  many  a  one  whose 
academic  escutcheon  is  all  covered  over  with  the  heraldic 
devices,  "This  certifies,"  "This  certifies,"  and  "This 
certifies,"  must  give  place  to  his  unlaureate  neighbor. 
Aside  from  the  field  of  mechanical  invention  and  skill, 
the  upheaval,  as  it  were,  of  society  in  the  line  of  deco- 
rative art — we  can  hardly  call  it  a  development — is  open- 
ing many  new  channels  of  mental  and  manual  activity. 
For  all  of  these  a  correct  training  in  drawing  and  design 
is  the  first  requisite ;  nor  is  there,  in  fact,  any  depart- 
ment of  business  or  professional  life  where  its  want  is 
not  felt.  The  use  of  the  pencil  can  be  as  readily  learned 
as  that  of  the  pen,  and  might  well  be  as  universal. 

But  as  the  child  can  be  pleased  with  the  little  simply- 
told  tale  ere  yet  it  knows  a  word  or  letter  ;  as  in  reading 
there  should  be  some  careful  study  of  words,  united  with 
their  ready  and  discriminating  use — their  only  worth — 
so  should  the  elementary  lines  and  curves  be  interspersed 
with  some  picture-making,  some  attempts  at  shading  and 
design.  A  fairly  proportioned  figure  and  a  meritorious 
design  may  be  accomplished  long  before  the  perfect 
straight  line  can  be  achieved.  What  kind  of  industrial 


THE  ELEMENTS  OF  GROWTH  IN  SCHOOL-LIFE.        69. 

training  could  or  should  be  made  a  part  of  our  curricu- 
lum is  the  question  of  the  day,  but  not  the  purpose  of 
this  paper.  One  enthusiast  is  partially  successful  in  this, 
and  another  in  that ;  but  just  what  shall  finally  take 
its  place  alongside  of  the  reader  and  arithmetic  still 
awaits  the  successful  wooer.  But,  however  this  may  be, 
we  should  seek  by  some  means — a  few  of  which  it  has 
been  my  purpose  to  suggest — to  cultivate  in  our  pupils 
a  quicker  and  more  accurate  perception  ;  a  clearer  and 
closer  logic ;  a  sounder  judgment ;  a  nicer  and  truer 
taste  ;  a  wiser  forecast  and  more  skillful  adaptation  of 
means  to  ends ;  how  better  to  observe,  to  think,  to  do ; 
to  show  him  that,  whatever  his  advantages,  the  true  man 
is  always  a  self-made  man  ;  that  the  highest  acquisition 
is  the  full  possession  of  all  his  powers  of  body  and  mind  ; 
and  in  a  free  land  the  only  wise  ruler  he  who  can  control 
all  those  powers,  and  direct  them  to  high  and  noble  ends. 


V. 

THE  SCHOLARSHIP  AIMED  AT  IN  THE  SCHOOL. 

« 

THE  quickened  interest  of  thoughtful  minds  under 
the  impulse  of  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  the  new  educa- 
tion, finds  its  fullest  expression  in  the  discussion  of  new 
and  improved  methods.  But  methods  are  not  for  their 
own  sake  ;  they  are  but  means  to  an  end,  and  the  value 
of  any  instrumentality  must  be  largely  judged  by  the 
worthiness  of  the  purpose  which  it  is  designed  to  accom- 
plish. It  matters  little  how  smoothly  and  swiftly  the 
wheels  of  our  machinery  run  or  how  generous  the  prod- 
uct they  may  furnish  if  the  product  itself  be  useless. 


70  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

The  purpose  of  the  public  school,  as  seen  in  its  origin 
and  history,  is  intellectual  culture,  and  those  methods 
only  can  have  a  strong  and  lasting  hold  on  the  public 
mind  which  best  promote  this.  However  pleasing  and 
attractive  the  work  may  be,  however  we  may  for  the  time 
command  the  public  ear  and  listen  delighted  to  its  words 
of  praise,  that  system  and  those  methods  alone  must  win 
in  the  end  and  enjoy  a  lasting  reputation,  which  continue 
to  send  forth  their  pupils  with  a  better  knowledge,  a 
higher  intelligence,  a  clearer  understanding,  a  more  thor- 
ough scholarship,  than  their  fellows. 

Not  long  ago  I  was  present  at  an  exercise  conducted 
by  an  accomplished  and  progressive  teacher,  the  immedi- 
ate subject  of  which  was  .the  use  of  the  tendrils  of  a  vine 
in  the  pupil's  hand.  After  a  satisfactory  conclusion  had 
been  reached,  the  teacher  remarked  in  closing  :  "I  don't 
care  at  all  about  your  knowing  the  use  of  the  tendril,  but 
merely  the  proper  method  of  investigation." 

But,  pleasing  as  the  exercise  had  been,  I  could  not 
help  asking  myself  as  I  came  away,  What  was  the  use  of 
a  proper  method  if  there  was  nothing  of  value  to  be 
learned ;  why  build  a  good  road,  plated  though  it  be, 
that  leads  nowhere,  or  the  need  of  study  at  all,  or  the  de- 
velopment of  strength  for  such  study  when  the  knowledge 
to  be  secured  is  of  no  worth  ?  As  Mrs.  Browning  so  pa- 
thetically has  it  : 

.  .  .  But  that's  out  of  nature.    We  all 
Have  been  patriots,  yet  each  house  must  always  keep  one ; 
'Twere  imbecile,  hewing  out  roads  to  a  wall. 
And,  when  Italy's  made,  for  what  end  is  it  done, 
If  we  have  not  a  son  I 

"Do  men  labor  for  that  which  is  not  bread,  which  is 
food  for  neither  body  nor  mind  ?    What  encouragement 


THE  SCHOLARSHIP  AIMED  AT  IN  THE  SCHOOL.       ft 

for  future  investigation  when  nothing  of  worth  remains 
from  our  present  pains  ? 

The  blessing  of  labor  we  admit ;  but  the  arm  is  best 
nerved  by  the  hope  of  the  harvest,  and  the  growth  of  our 
powers  is  best  served  in  the  pursuit  of  that  at  which  all 
our  efforts  aim  at  the  last — the  acquisition  of  knowledge, 
all  that  is  highest,  purest,  noblest,  best. 

The  old  talk  of  the  threefold  nature  of  man  and  the 
necessity  of  a  full,  complete  development,  barren  of  fruit 
as  it  sometimes  seems  in  our  schools,  had  become  so  fa- 
miliar as  to  be  almost  a  by-word  a  whole  generation  ago. 
Yet  our  schools  were  not  established  and  are  not  sus- 
tained for  the  purpose  of  physical  culture.  Better  to 
that  end  would  have  been  the  gymnasium,  or  a  base-ball 
club,  or  in  the  country  a  turn  with  the  shovel  and  the 
hoe.  It  is,  of  course,  for  the  wise  teacher  to  see  that  in 
the  work  of  intellectual  culture  the  health  and  physical 
grace  of  the  pupil  shall  not  deteriorate,  making  him  with 
all  his  mental  equipments  but  a  bundle  of  bodily  woes 
and  weaknesses. 

Nor  was  it  for  moral  training  and  the  formation  of 
character,  except  as  the  mental  culture  shall  tend  to  that 
result,  that  the  public  school  was  instituted.  Morals  are 
not  taught  in  fourteen  weeks  or  in  any  number  of  stated 
recitations,  but  should  be  like  the  prayer  of  the  Chris- 
tian : 

The  teacher's  vital  breath, 
The  teacher's  native  air, 
Her  watchword  at  the  school-room  door.  ' 
Her  self -hood  everywhere, 

that  with  bodily  health  unimpaired,  strong  in  the  integ- 
rity of  a  high  and  noble  character  induced  by  a  cultured 
intellect  and  the  habits  of  industry  and  self-restraint  by 
which  it  may  best  be  secured,  our  pupils  without  fear 


72  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

and  without  reproach  may  go  forth  like  true  knights  to 
battle  for  the  right  in  the  complete  panoply  of  a  true 
scholarship — a  scholarship  which,  knowing  the  experi- 
ences of  the  past  with  its  errors  and  failures,  may  be  the 
better  able  to  discern  and  follow  the  paths  of  honor  and 
success  ;  a  scholarship  which,  in  so  far  as  it  has  been  at- 
tained, has  ever  been  one  of  the  most  efficient  agents  in 
lifting  men  from  the  sloughs  of  idleness  and  degradation, 
dignifying  labor  and  providing  even  for  their  idle  hours 
the  resources  of  happiness  and  noble  virtues.  For  this 
intellectual  furnishing  we  believe  in  the  new  education, 
though  we  ourselves  were  never  guided  by  its  smiles  nor 
ever  felt  the  enlivening  influence  of  its  wiser  methods. 
Yet  many  of  us  can  doubtless  recall  some  individual 
teacher,  some  man,  some  woman,  whose  finer  nature  or 
truer  sympathy  has  changed  the  current  of  our  school, 
our  world  life,  perchance,  "made  this  and  that  other 
world  another  world  "  to  our  wakened  thought ;  and  we 
believe  there  is  a  new  education,  though  there  may  not 
be  and  probably  is  not  anything  in  it  that  has  not  in 
some  degree  been  practiced  by  good  teachers  ever  since 
schools  began. 

We  believe  in  the  new  education  as  we  believe  in  a 
new  tune,  though  it  contains  not  a  tone  that  was  not  in 
the  old  despised  one.  We  believe  in  it  for  the  spirit  of 
humanity  underlying,  overlying  it,  inspiring  it,  which 
makes  the  living  child  its  subject,  its  untiring  study,  its 
ceaseless  hope  ;  for  its  truer  appreciation  of  the  child-na- 
ture in  its  restless  eagerness,  its  longings,  its  love  of  na- 
ture and  of  life,  and  its  ceaseless  strivings  to  acquaint 
itself  with  its  powers,  its  capabilities,  and  its  surround- 
ings ;  and  for  the  wiser  presentation  of  subjects  suited  to 
each  stage  of  its  advance  and  development,  skillfully 
guiding  its  unrepressed  and  gladsome  activities  into  the 


THE  SCHOLARSHIP  AIMED  AT  IN  THE  SCHOOL.        73 

fruitful  paths  of  experience  and  wiser  satisfactions,  turn- 
ing aside  from  the  dreary  waste  of  enforced  drudgery 
into  the  fresh  and  flowery  fields  of  earnest  because  curi- 
ous effort ;  and  we  believe  in  it  especially  for  the  better 
understanding  of  things  and  their  names,  its  nicer  obser- 
vation of  qualities  and  forms,  its  clearer  conception  of 
ideas,  and  its  finer  expression  of  thought,  which  tend  to 
and  constitute  the  beginnings  of  scholarly  learning,  learn- 
ing the  meaning  of  things  around  them  by  handling  and 
feeling  them  rather  than  from  the  dictionary,  the  defini- 
tions and  power  of  familiar  words  from  daily  use  rather 
than  from  the  grammar. 

The  active  boy  needs  no  geography  to  guide  him 
through  the  nursery  nor  gazetteer  to  tell  him  of  the  con- 
tents of  his  pockets  or  his  playhouse  ;  but  rather  here  does 
he  gain  those  first  lessons  which  make  the  dictionary  and 
geography  available  in  the  study  of  things  beyond  his 
reach. 

In  the  six  years  preceding  his  admission  to  the  school- 
room what  has  been  the  work  of  the  child  ?  He  has  de- 
veloped his  physical,  mental,  moral  powers,  it  is  true,  or 
rather  they  have  been  of  necessity  developed  in  his  endless 
efforts  to  familiarize  himself  with  the  world  he  lives  in. 

He  has  performed  a  task  that  few  of  us  have  the  en- 
ergy and  enterprise  to  accomplish  ;  he  has  learned  a  lan- 
guage in  all  its  spirit  and  its  life  ;  has  learned  his  moth- 
er's, his  father's  name,  and  the  names  of  all  the  objects 
about  him ;  he  has  early  learned  that  fire  will  burn,  that 
cold  will  freeze,  and  knows,  beyond  the  power  of  Webster 
or  Worcester  to  tell  him,  the  meaning  of  burn  and  freeze  ; 
and  by  many  a  bump  has  the  force  of  attraction  been  im- 
pressed upon  him.  He  has  learned  to  distinguish  the 
soft  cheek  and  heart  of  his  mother  from  his  father's 
roughly  bearded  face  and  rougher,  sterner  nature  ;  and 


74:  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

his  whole  soul  has  been  aroused  to  the  love  of  knowledge 
and  the  keen  pleasure  in  the  pursuit  of  it,  and  not  with- 
out a  little  thoughtful  investigation  can  we  realize  how 
much  of  the  valuable  knowledge  of  objects  around  us  is 
acquired  during  the  first  fifteen  or  twenty  months.  All 
these  acquirements,  too,  have  been  made  for  themselves. 
No  "constitutionals"  have  called  him  abroad. 

His  mind  has  been  developed  ;  his  character  has  been 
forming,  and  but  too  often  beyond  the  teacher's  power 
to  change  it ;  and  his  hands  have  been  made  obedient  to 
his  will ;  but  the  tree  whose  fruit  he  has  persistently  tried 
to  pluck  has  been  the  tree  of  knowledge. 

"Nor  is  it  for  the  simple  training  of  his  various  powers 
merely  or  chiefly  that  he  turns  his  strengthening  foot- 
steps to  the  school-room  door.  In  clearness  and  distinct- 
ness of  vision  and  in  keenness  of  hearing  the  red-man  of 
our  native  woods  surpasses  our  best  results  ;  his  fieetness 
of  foot  but  mocks  our  sluggish  tread,  and  the  tomahawk 
and  scalping-knife  impressively  testify  to  his  manual  dex- 
terity and  skill.  His  reasoning  powers  find  exercise  and 
expression  in  the  hunt  and  the  well-laid  ambuscade,  and 
to  his  ingenuity  and  shrewd  devices  his  writhing  victims 
bear  tearful  and  truthful  witness,  while  for  his  memory, 
the  Indian,  like  the  Bourbon,  never  forgets. 

He  learns  to  do,  in  the  only  true  way,  by  the  doing, 
and  does  it  well  from  age  to  age  the  same,  but,  like  the 
Bourbon,  too,  he  never  learns  anything. 

Of  progress,  that  progress  which,  with  the  recorded 
experiences  of  the  past  as  a  basis,  by  new  discovery  and 
invention,  is  ever  reaching  outward  and  upward  for  other 
knowledge  and  higher  learning,  he  knows  nothing.  In 
the  skillful  training  of  body  and  mind  he  sets  a  worthy 
example,  but  fails  in  the  essentials  of  sound  learning  and 
scholarship. 


rTHE  SCHOLARSHIP  AIMED  AT  IN  THE  SCHOOL.  75 
It  is  said  that  the  difference  between  civilized  and 
savage  life  consists  in  the  greater  number  of  things  that 
the  civilized  man  possesses.  The  wigwam  of  the  savage, 
in  the  advance,  changes  into  the  log  hut ;  the  hut  ex- 
pands into  a  framed  building ;  the  wooden  frame,  when 
buildings  approach  too  near,  is  supplanted  by  brick  or 
stone,  which  soon  takes  on  graving  and  sculpture.  While 
for  the  bearskin  come  the  chair,  the  table,  the  sofa,  plate, 
painting,  music,  until  the  poet's  dream  is  realized, 

And  we  see  the  narrow  kitchen  walls 
•  Stretching  away  into  marble  halls ; 

The  weary  wheel  to  a  spinet  turns, 
The  tallow  candle  an  astral  burns. 

So  from  stolid  ignorance  to  enlightened  power  there 
is  the  sum  of  things  known,  of  thoughts,  ideas,  inven- 
tions, science,  art,  and  literature  to  compass. 

The  beginning  of  each  age  being  the  accomplishment 
of  all  the  preceding,  the  race  continues  its  limitless  ad- 
vance. The  toiler  of  to-day  is  restless  and  unsatisfied 
with  the  luxuries,  the  attainments,  the  enjoyments  which 
fulfilled  the  hopes  of  the  monarchs  and  sages  of  yester- 
day. 

The  sesame  to  all  these  wished-for  possessions,  to  this 
progress,  is  found  inscribed  on  the  printed  page,  which 
keeps  faithful  record  of  each  onward  step,  each  true  or 
false  effort  of  the  race,  so  that  we  are  no  longer  compelled, 
like  the  Arctic  voyager,  to  trace  the  same  frozen  and 
fatal  route,  feeding  our  own  fruitless  hopes,  perhaps, 
upon  the  withered  hearts  of  our  companions,  but  leav- 
ing behind  us  all  the  vanished  past,  except  its  lessons  of 
wisdom  and  its  hoarded  treasures,  we  push  on  toward  the 
wished-for  goal. 

Apart  from  its  theological  sense,  in  view  of  its  in- 


70  PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

estimable  value,  we  might  almost  say,  as  it  reads,  that 
all  Scripture,  all  written  record,  is  given  by  inspiration, 
and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction, 
and  for  instruction.  A  broader  and  more  accurate  knowl- 
edge, a  higher  enlightment,  a  wiser  intelligence,  is  the 
primary  purpose  and  the  greatest  want  of  our  schools. 

Education  does  not,  we  think,  in  its  etymology  or 
true  meaning  consist  in  a  drawing  out,  a  simple  training 
of  the  mental  powers  ;  but  it  is  a  leading  forth  into  the 
world  and  into  life,  into  a  wider  sphere,  with  an  ever- 
firmer  step,  and  larger  wisdom  what  to  avoid  and  what 
to  choose.  It  is  not  the  training  of  the  athlete,  who, 
with  only  Nature's  furnishing,  by  mere  strength  and  skill 
seeks  to  win  for  the  sake  of  winning,  with  no  reward  but 
the  shouts  of  the  ring  and  a  few  more  disfiguring  bruises, 
but  rather  the  education  of  a  Von  Moltke,  who,  without 
superior  bodily  force,  it  may  be,  with  all  the  appliances 
and  improvements  of  modern  science,  with  well-studied 
maps  and  charts  of  the  country  to  be  invaded  spread  out 
before  him,  with  its  rivers,  its  passes,  its  supplies,  and 
defenses,  and  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  charac- 
ter and  designs  of  his  opposers,  can  intelligently  and 
promptly  combine  and  direct  the  resources  of  an  empire 
to  the  victorious  accomplishment  of  his  plans — a  furnish- 
ing by  the  aid  of  which  "one  man  can  chase  a  thousand, 
and  two  put  ten  thousand  to  flight." 

Where  would  the  mailed  crusader  or  the  trained  gladi- 
ator of  the  arena,  with  all  their  brawny  growth,  stand 
before  this  master  of  accumulated  forces  ? 

It  is  in  this  spirit  of  accumulation  that  the  highest 
success  and  best  progress  of  the  school,  the  counting- 
room,  or  the  cabinet  consists,  and  by  the  want  of  it  can 
we -explain  the  emptiness  of  the  efforts  of  an  Abelard, 
with  all  his  brilliancy  and  logical  acuteness^  and,  we 


THE  SCHOLARSHIP  AIMED  AT  IN  THE  SCHOOL.        7Y 

Bometimes  think,  of  the  endless  questionings  and  hair- 
splittings and  verbal  perversions  of  a  Socrates. 

The  first  step  in  the  marvelous  developments  of  modern 
science  is  the  careful  record  of  observed  facts  and  phe- 
nomena. Effort  without  capital  is  wasted.  So  in  school 
the  first,  the  chief,  work  of  the  first  year  is  the  enlarge- 
ment and  improvement  of  the  pupil's  language,  the  at- 
tainment of  a  greater  number  and  a  more  accurate  use 
of  words  as  the  expression  of  facts  and  conclusions  of 
thought,  and  only  as  the  expression  of  thought,  and  gen- 
erally with  reference  to  material  things,  such  as  can  be 
verified  by  an  appeal  to  the  senses ;  thoughts  and  ideas 
necessitating  a  more  careful  examination  of  objects,  as 
to  size,  form,  color,  sound,  and  use,  enlarging  his  in- 
formation and  quickening  his  perception  for  closer  in- 
vestigation. 

No  place  here  for  the  incorrect  sentence  to  be  amended, 
the  imperfect  sentence  to  be  completed,  the  disarranged 
words  to  be  formed  into  a  sentence.  Like  letters  to  be 
formed  into  a  word,  they  may  serve  as  an  innocent  puz- 
zle for  an  evening's  diversion,  but  are  apart  from  the 
work  of  the  school-room,  which  should  ever  be  the  ac- 
cumulation of  words  for  use,  and  useful  thought  and 
knowledge  through  the  medium  of  words.  From  the 
more  correct  use  of  words  in  relation  to  familiar  objects, 
and  a  nicer  appreciation  of  their  meanings  and  force,  to 
be  secured  by  child  or  man,  not  from  dictionary,  but  from 
use  alone,  comes  a  wider  knowledge  of  persons  and  events, 
their  properties  and  relations,  and  perhaps  some  simple 
systematizing  of  his  knowledge. 

Never  talk  for  the  sake  of  talk,  but  for  better  and 
nicer  expression  of  thought,  a  clearer  knowledge  of  the 
concrete  as  the  sure  and  firm  basis  of  the  abstract,  in 
order  that  imagination — that  most  fruitful  of  our  facul- 


78  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

ties — may  not  be  the  companion  of  grotesque  fancy  and 
wild  vagary. 

When  the  words  of  our  pupils  in  school  shall  be  as 
clear  and  significant  as  they  have  been  in  their  previous 
daily  life  may  we  hope  that  in  these  bright  celestial  urns 
philosophy  shall  not  seem  so  dark  a  decoction  to  the  com- 
mon mind,  nor  sweet  poesy  so  rayless  of  sense  as  it  often 
now  appears  on  the  pages  of  our  literary  magazines. 

For  imagination  is  but  the  natural  outcome  of  a  more 
careful,  a  better  learning ;  though,  if  the  young  girl  of 
nineteen  were  advised  to  cultivate  the  imagination  of  her 
pupils,  she  would,  I  think,  understand  anything  rather 
than  that. 

What  is  the  opening  of  the  twenty-third  Psalm  but 
the  highest  type  of  imagination  ?  "  The  Lord  is  my 
shepherd;  I  shall  not  want."  Why  not  my  father,  my 
guardian,  my  guide  ?  Yet  it  was  not  strange  for  the 
weary,  hunted  David,  with  the  picture  in  his  mind  of 
the  little  helpless  flock,  so  dependent  upon  his  care,  yet 
resting  so  securely  under  the  protection  of  him  who  had 
slain  the  lion  and  the  bear,  to  exultingly  exclaim,  on 
waking  from  a  moment  of  depression  :  "  The  Lord  is 
my  shepherd ;  /  shall  not  want.  He  maketh  me  to  lie 
down  in  green  pastures ;  he  leadeth  me  beside  the  still 
waters." 

No  wrenching  of  the  spirit  here ;  no  racking  of  the 
mental  constitution  ;  no  strivings  after  the  unattainable. 
It  was  simply  the  natural  utterance  of  the  knowing, 
trusting  heart. 

A  person  untaught  or  but  half-taught  might  have  ex- 
pected the  rippling,  sparkling,. bubbling  waters  ;  but  one 
who  has  ever  known  the  longing  of  the  weary  soul  for 
rest  has  not  to  wait  long  with  the  inquiry  why  the  poet 
chooses  the  quiet,  shady  pool,  from  whose  cool  draughts 


THE   SCHOLARSHIP  AIMED  AT   IN  THE  SCHOOL.       ^ 

he  rises  full  of  refreshment  and  strength,  "  He  restoreth 
my  soul." 

So  reliable  a  witness  is  sight,  and  so  lasting  the  char- 
acters in  which  the  records  are  written,  that  I  believe 
the  misspelled  word,  the  imperfect  sentence,  the  incor- 
rect statement  should  no  more  be  placed  before  the  pupil's 
eye  than  poison  should  be  mixed  with  his  food  or  gun- 
powder given  him  for  a  plaything.  And,  if  I  mistake 
not  the  signs  of  the  times,  the  day  is  not  distant — is  even 
now  dawning — when  our  primary  readers  shall  be  filled 
with  plain,  simple,  pleasing,  correct,  and  instructive  ex- 
pressions of  thought  in  place  of  the  senseless  twaddle, 
the  stupid  inanities,  and  sometimes  slangy  vulgarisms 
pawned  off  upon  a  too-confiding  public  by  the  thrifty 
book-makers,  evidently  as  familiar  with  the  real  child  as 
with  a  good  school. 

The  pupil's  own  errors  should  be  set  right,  his  mis- 
judgments  corrected,  his  poor  taste  rectified,  that  he  may 
clearly  and  correctly  give  full  and  free  expression  to  true 
ideas  founded  upon  a  careful  study  of  objects  worthy  of 
his  best  and  lasting  regard.  Hardly  can  we  overestimate 
the  importance  of  this  early  habit  of  using  words  as  the 
representatives  of  distinct  ideas,  and  their  proper  arrange- 
ment into  sentences  for  the  plain  expression  of  well-as- 
certained and  clearly  defined  thoughts.  Like  the  breath 
of  heaven,  it  sweeps  through  the  misty  mazes  of  the 
seemingly  dark  and  befogged  brain,  through  which  now 
the  sweet  light  may  stream,  quickening  dull  thought 
into  budding  life,  bringing  a  new  sparkle  to  the  luster- 
less  eye,  while  over  the  heavy,  sullen  features  softly  creeps 
a  smile  of  pleased  intelligence. 

Eight  here  in  the  beginning  of  school-life  is  laid  the 
basis  of  success,  and  in  the  almost  total  lack  of  illustra- 
tive material  in  the  past  may  be  found  the  cause  of  the 


80  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

irksomeness  and  barrenness  of  schools,  in  the  uninterested 
use  of  but  half-understood  words,  and  the  consequent 
memorizing  of  wholly  unmeaning  sentences. 

How  many  a  boy  or  girl,  the  charm  of  the  home  cir- 
cle and  the  life  of  the  playground,  ready  with  his  little 
story  of  play  or  adventure,  at  no  loss  to  tell  the  number 
of  his  marbles  or  pet  rabbits,  can't  learn  his  geography, 
don't  understand  his  arithmetic,  wants  to  be  excused 
from  grammar,  never  could  write  composition — oftentimes 
with  his  desk  crowded  with  forbidden  notes  in  answer  to 
those  he  may  have  written  ! 

He  is  interested  in  his  rabbit  because  he  caught  it,  and 
is  soon  familiar  with  its  proper  food  and  its  habits,  and 
will  tell  the  story  of  his  games  undiminished  to  his  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren  after  him,  but  has  no  need,  that 
he  knows  of,  of  his  declensions  and  conjugations,  can 
make  no  use  of  them — in  fact,  does  not  know  what  they 
mean. 

He  can  make  and  fly  a  kite,  and  does  not  soon  tire  of 
the  pursuit ;  but  can  not  follow  those  old  French  and 
Portuguese  adventurers,  whose  names  he  can  not  pro- 
nounce, and  knows  nothing  of  the  seas  and  lands  they 
visited,  and  can  not  remember  them  over  a  Christmas, 
to  say  nothing  of  a  summer  vacation. 

He  is  told  that  a  certain  word  is  an  adverb,  but  would 
be  just  as  well  satisfied  and  unquestioning  to  hear  it  called 
a  preposition  or  a  conjunction. 

And  how  this  indistinctness  and  uncertainty  clings 
to  later  life  till  the  whole  subject  seems  but  an  incon- 
gruous muddle,  and  the  books  written  upon  it  fit  food 
for  a  bonfire  ! 

Still,  there  is  a  grammar,  a  correct  understanding  and 
use  of  language,  with  names  and  terms  enough  for  intelli- 
gent study,  and  it  is  fast  finding  its  way  into  our  schools  ; 


THE   SCHOLARSHIP  AIMED  AT  IN  THE  SCHOOL.       81 

but  it  is  the  study  of  the  language  as  found  in  good  use, 
and  not  of  misunderstood  definitions — a  learning  to  swim 
on  dry  land. 

These  early  acquisitions,  like  most  of  the  studies  of 
the  school,  are  for  use,  and  are,  or  should  be,  studied  for 
their  own  value — little  time  is  there  in  the  public  school 
for  the  study  of  those  things  not  worth  the  knowing — 
that  intelligent  knowledge  that  can  be  used  directly  or 
as  a  means  to  other  attainments. 

If  we  learn  to  do  by  the  doing,  we  learn  also  to  learn 
by  the  learning,  and  the  best  test  of  our  methods  of  in- 
vestigation and  learning  is  the  value  of  the  knowledge 
we  have  learned  or  discovered. 

We  are  successful  in  our  endless  search  for  truth,  so 
far  as  we  find  or  learn  what  is  true.  We  have  no  call  for 
that  truth  that  is  true  of  nothing  any  more  than  for  that 
goodness  that  is  good  for  nothing,  and  the  best  mental 
discipline  is  promoted,  with  the  consequent  growth  and 
development,  as  our  powers  are  intelligently  employed  in 
the  pursuit  of  whatever  shall  add  to  our  valuable  knowl- 
edge and  highest  wisdom. 

Of  history,  if  rightly  studied,  of  geography — descrip- 
tive, physical,  mathematical,  and  political — there  can  be 
no  valid  question  of  their  value  ;  nor  any  more,  it  would 
seem,  of  mathematics — number,  form,  size ;  nor  of  the 
sciences — some  knowledge,  and  correct  knowledge,  of 
those  things  around  us  and  within  us,  upon  the  sight, 
understanding,  and  use  of  which  our  own  physical,  men- 
tal, and  moral  |rell-being  depends,  with  our  highest 
health  and  happiness. 

Even  growth  is  but  another  name  for  a  greater  ca- 
pacity for  knowing  and  the  power  to  satisfy  that  capacity. 
The  perfect  man  must  be  not  only  the  ready,  but  the 
full,  the  correct  man.  In  making  the  man  first  and  the 


82  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOB  TEACHERS. 

merchant  afterward,  we  are  apt  to  get  a  worthless  man 
and  an  unskillful,  useless  merchant.  We  would  make 
the  man  in  making  the  merchant — the  broad,  liberal, 
enterprising,  upright,  cultured,  manly  merchant,  mer- 
chant prince,  or  princess,  if  she  will. 

The  empty,  unfurnished  developments  are  so  apt  to 
collapse  just  when  their  fullness  is  needed.  It  is  not  the 
bare  fact,  or  rather  the  veriest  shadow  of  a  fact,  the  in- 
significant word,  to  be  repeated  to-day  and  forgotten 
to-morrow,  that  constitutes  knowledge  or  intelligence. 
To  learn  that  the  capital  of  England  is  London,  if  the 
word  be  all,  gives  no  information  —  any  other  name 
would  do  as  well,  as  Bagdad  or  Tadmor  in  the  wilderness  ; 
or  to  learn  that  there  are  thirty-eight  States,  without 
knowing  what  a  State  is,  as  ready  to  give  Canada  or  Chi- 
cago as  Illinois. 

Our  geographies,  as  it  seems  to  me,  begin  where  they 
should  leave  off.  To  the  average  beginner  the  reasons 
for  supposing  the  earth  to  be  round — the  approaching 
ship,  the  shadow  of  the  earth  in  an  eclipse — can  serve  no 
other  purpose  than  a  more  or  less  complete  obscuration 
of  his  mental  powers,  in  many  cases  never  passing  off, 
and  even  the  circumference  of  the  earth  in  miles  might 
often  as  well  be  called  feet  or  rods.  We  should  begin 
with  our  familiar  surroundings,  till  direction,  extent, 
number  have  become  a  part  of  ourselves,  never  to  be 
forgotten ;  then  outward  to  the  city,  the  county,  the 
State,  with  some  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  purpose  of 
a  city  or  State  and  the  causes  that  coftspire  to  make  cit- 
ies. From  lack  of  steam  alone  fifty  years  ago  Chicago 
was  an  impossibility  beside  our  sluggish  stream. 

As  with  names  of  places,  so  with  disconnected,  unas- 
sociated  events  of  history.  From  the  painful  expansion 
of  the  pupil's  task  by  the  doings  of  our  civil  war  some 


THE  SCHOLARSHIP  AIMED   AT  IN  THE  SCHOOL.       83 

useful  return  should  come.  As  for  the  text,  that  Gen- 
eral Jones  defeated  General  Smith,  with  so  many  killed 
and  so  many  captured,  if  it  end  there,  he  might  as  well 
have  bowled  down  so  many  pins  or  pocketed  so  many 
balls.  But  there  were  certain  great  movements  for  spe- 
cific purposes,  of  which  these  numerous  engagements 
were  but  mere  incidentals.  There  were  reputations  just- 
ly and  unjustly  lost  and  won  ;  and  captures,  of  which  the 
cost  of  the  captured  mules  was  not  the  only  thing  to  be 
mourned. 

In  truth,  our  whole  war  was  itself  but  one  chapter  of 
the  story  of  the  great  conflict  of  slavery  coexistent  with 
our  Government,  and  can  not  be  intelligently  understood 
without  that  continuous  record  in  mind.  Instead  of 
slavery,  perhaps  we  might  better  call  it  the  growth  of 
liberty  which  began  .the  trouble.  Vices  are  always  con- 
servative ;  they  do  not  desire  reform. 

What  matters  it,  too,  to  know  that  Adams  and  Jack- 
son were  Presidents  at  such  and  such  a  date  while  igno- 
rant of  the  great  political  ideas  forever  at  war  in  our  his- 
tory and  more  or  less  faithfully  represented  by  the  parties 
that  have  from  time  to  time  combined  and  again  dis- 
solved ? 

Again,  our  financial  history  might  form  an  interest- 
ing and  fruitful  topic  for  study  and  discussion  for  the 
older  pupils. 

It  is  wonderful  the  f  ruitfulness  of  a  single,  well-learned, 
thoroughly  comprehended  idea,  though  of  no  more  ac- 
count than  the  mustard-seed,  that  "  smallest  of  all  seeds." 
But  it  must  be  a  live  idea  and  well  grasped  in  a  fruitful 
soil.  Through  one  well-defined  fact,  as  through  a  crys- 
tal lens,  how  all  related  facts  come  out  clear  and  distinct 
beneath  our  steady  gaze  !  The  seasons  and  the  zones, 
the  extent  of  the  zones  and  all  their  relations,  need  not  be 


84:  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

studied  and  remembered  if  once  the  cause  be  clearly  un- 
derstood. Even  for  definite  knowledge,  from  the  simple 
23?°  in  the  tipping  of  the  earth,  they  all  flow  naturally 
and  easily,  with  but  a  question  in  arithmetic  not  beyond 
the  primary  pupil  to  give  the  extent  in  miles  if  need  be. 

The  government  of  our  city  once  intelligently  known 
gives  the  essentials  of  all  our  State  and  national  govern- 
ments, with  a  little  enlargement  of  the  picture  by  imag- 
ination. 

When  the  construction  of  the  Hoosac  Tunnel  was  un- 
der discussion,  the  venerable  Dr.  Hitchcock  was  called  be- 
fore a  committee  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  to  testi- 
fy as  to  the  internal  structure  of  the  mountain.  After 
making  his  statement  in  hie  simple  manner,  one  of  the 
doubtful  members  asked  how  he  knew.  Eeaching  his 
hand  down  into  the  pocket  of  his  old  fur-collared  camlet 
overcoat,  he  brought  up  from  its  depths  two  or  three 
small  fragments  of  rock  from  the  top  or  side  of  the 
mountain,  with  the  confident  remark  :  "  Why,  here  they 
are  ;  see  for  yourself." 

Unlike  a  distinguished  lawyer,  a  member  of  the  Sen- 
ate about  the  same  time,  who,  after  an  official  inspection 
of  some  locomotive  engines  at  the  shops,  innocently,  with 
a  graceful  wave  of  the  hand,  inquired,  "Ah,  do  these  go 
by  water  ?  " 

The  lawyer  had  had  the  better  training  and  would 
have  made  the  better  speech.  The  difference  was  chiefly 
of  information.  One  had  studied  for  the  sake  of  the 
knowledge  and  its  natural  deductions,  the  other  for  men- 
tal training  and  growth. 

One  who  has  a  complete  knowledge  of  numbers  from 
one  to  ten,  or  at  most  to  forty  or  fifty — not  in  metaphys- 
ical distinctions,  but  in  a  simple,  clear  understanding  of 
the  thing  itself — has  little  more  to  learn  for  the  require- 


THE  SCHOLARSHIP  AIMED  AT   IN  THE  SCHOOL.       85 

ments  of  ordinary  business  save  a  few  modes  of  applica- 
tion and  the  acquirement  of  a  ready  facility  and  accuracy 
by  practice. 

When  our  books,  or  our  schools,  shall  rid  themselves 
of  the  cloud  of  witnesses  to  the  efforts  of  book-makers  to 
surpass  each  other,  as  seen  in  the  multiplicity  of  useless 
terms — as  causes  and  results,  bases  and  effects,  and  I 
know  not  how  many  more — will  the  distressing  subject  of 
percentage  stand  forth  clear  and  radiant  in  its  various  ap- 
plications as  a  rich  landscape  after  a  clearing  shower. 

We  desire  our  pupils  to  begin  the  study  of  numbers 
with  the  blocks,  the  buttons,  the  cards  in  their  hand, 
botany  with  the  blossom,  the  plant,  and  geology  with  the 
hammer,  rather  than  the  book — because  thus  only  do 
they  get  the  primary  words,  the  alphabet,  to  under- 
stand the  book  with  its  definitions  and  descriptions — that 
they  may  not  always  toil  along  the  same  laborious  ways 
that  others  have  trodden  with  many  an  error  and  many  a 
fall,  but  that  with  the  lessons  of  others'  experience  to 
guide  them  they  may  quickly  and  more  easily  possess 
themselves  of  the  land  already  discovered,  and  perhaps 
press  on  to  new  fields  and  broader  conquests.  Thus  only 
is  it  possible  that 

.  .  .  through  the  ages  one  increasing  purpose  runs, 
And  the  thoughts  of  men  are  widened  with  the  process  of  the  suns. 

In  the  shop,  too,  the  definitions  of  geometry,  me- 
chanics, and  physics  can  be  learned  with  a  value  the  text- 
book can  never  give.  From  the  table,  the  work-bench, 
and  the  forge,  comes  a  living,  fruitful  meaning,  with  a 
fullness  beside  which  the  explanations  of  the  book  alone 
would  be  but  withered  shreds. 

The  study  of  language,  of  grammar,  too — for,  as  I 
have  said,  there  is  a  grammar  of  the  English  language, 


86  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

even  in  default  of  the  accident  of  inflection,  a  study  that 
teaches  to  speak  and  write  correctly — this,  too,  in  its 
beginnings,  like  numbers  and  science,  should  be  object- 
ive, the  study  of  the  language  as  it  is  found  in  good  use 
by  authors,  and  its  correct  and  ready  employment  in  ex- 
pressing the  thought  of  the  student.  Nor  till  a  consid- 
erable familiarity  with  its  structure  and  spirit  is  at- 
tained is  the  pupil  prepared  to  formulate  and  define,  that 
work  of  the  advanced  and  skillful  student. 

And  instead  of  testing  his  progress  by  defining  prop- 
erties and  repeating  tables  and  columns,  let  him  be  asked, 
if  you  please,  to  give  a  good  description  of  the  room  he  is 
in  (or  take  some  like  familiar  topic),  a  reliable  and  ap- 
proved method  of  examination,  showing  both  what  he  has 
learned  and  what  he  can  do  with  it.  An  examination 
may  or  may  not  ascertain  the  pupil's  acquirements  and 
power,  and  so  may  the  daily  recitation. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  suppose  a  recitation  so  conducted 
that  a  perfect  record  would  afford  little  or  no  proof  of 
any  valuable  knowledge  gained  or  power  acquired  which 
would  be  available  for  future  use.  In  this  connection  I 
would  suggest  that  the  practice  sometimes  observed  of 
giving  five  or  ten  minutes  for  studying  a  lesson  in  spell- 
ing, history,  or  any  branch  of  study  in  immediate  prep- 
aration for  recitation  is  injurious,  and  only  injurious, 
and  in  its  tendency  ruinous  to  that  retentive  memory, 
without  which  the  highest  success  is  impossible  with  the 
scholar,  the  teacher,  the  business  man,  or  the  politician. 

A  few  minutes  given  to  quiet  thought,  for  recalling 
the  important  points  of  a  subject  previously  studied,  but 
thought  without  reference  to  the  book,  would  cultivate 
a  kind  of  memory  of  the  first  importance — one  of  the 
most  efficient  factors  in  all  growth  and  progress. 

And  even  in  the  grammar  grades  may  our  pupils  ex- 


THE  SCHOLARSHIP  AIMED  AT   IN  THE  SCHOOL.        87 

tend  their  knowledge  to  the  common  figures  of  speech 
as  found  in  the  authors  read,  so  as  to  appreciate  their 
beauty  and  force,  and  to  employ  their  familiar  names  of 
simile  and  metaphor,  and  to  make  a  fitting  use  of  them 
in  their  own  writings  and  speaking. 

For  its  value  to  themselves  they  should  know  what 
constitutes  verse,  and  what  poetry  and  rhyme,  and  be 
acquainted  with  the  common  forms  of  verse  so  well  as 
almost  without  an  effort  to  apprehend  the  delicate  rhyth- 
mic movement,  in  true  enjoyment  of  the  fitness  of  this 
or  that  form  for  its  special  use — an  acquisition  as  easy, 
as  pleasing  as  song. 

And  /  would  not  discourage  the  young,  half -fledged 
soul  from  trying  its  light  pinions  in  airy,  tuneful  flight, 
nor  mock  the  weak  attempt.  A  sorry  swain  is  he  who 
never  feels  his  fond  heart  swell  with  airy  nothings,  to 
which  he  fain  would  give  a  local  habitation  and  a  name. 
The  form  that  is  always  content  to  creep  is  but  a  reptile, 
and  dust,  by  just  decree,  his  food.  Even  Tennyson's 
early  lines  would  not  have  kept  Alcibiades  awake. 

With  all  our  science  and  art,  the  good  things  of  life 
are  not  all  material.  The  marble  column,  the  rounded 
dome,  the  frescoed  wall,  have  no  meaning  or  form  to  the 
untaught  mind.  In  the  richer  thought,  the  more  grace- 
ful expression,  the  sweeter  melody  of  a  truer,  purer  litera- 
ture, the  foundation  and  adornment  of  the  modern  home, 
is  found  their  only  right  to  be ;  and  the  effort  of  the 
young  soul  toward  the  attainment  and  use  of  the  best 
within  its  reach  is  well  deserving  of  encouragement. 

In  the  oft-quoted  line,  "The  curfew  tolls  the  knell 
of  parting  day,"  is  found  more  of  history,  more  of  poli- 
tical, of  social  science,  more  of  poetry,  of  language,  than 
the  majority  of  our  graduates  take  with  them  from  the 
grammar  or  high  school — a  statement  in  which  I  believe 


88  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

I  do  the  wisest  of  you  no  wrong.  Very  much  of  this 
most  valuable  information  may  be  secured,  with  a  wise 
teacher,  incidentally  and  almost  unconsciously,  in  a  way 
that,  far  from  interrupting  the  stated  work,  only  seems 
to  give  it  a  new,  a  real  interest  and  life. 

Yet  so  apt  is  any  useful  method  or  new  invention  to 
be  regarded,  like  a  new  mineral  water,  as  the  panacea  for 
all  ills,  and  praised  beyond  its  true  use,  that  our  graded 
system,  with  all  its  power  for  good,  has  often  been  so 
straightened  and  narrowed  that  the  mind  and  heart,  that 
the  whole  nature  of  the  pupil  and  the  teacher  has  been 
cramped  and  stifled  within  its  ever- tightening  and  be- 
numbing grasp. 

In  utter  neglect  or  forgetfulness  of  securing  what  is 
already  gained,  and  of  introducing  into  each  grade  some 
principles  of  each  preceding  grade  in  some  new  relation, 
that  nothing  be  lost,  a  line  of  demarkation  and  exclusion 
between  the  different  grades  has  been  drawn  more  rigid 
and  more  rigidly  enforced  than  the  cholera  quarantine  of 
Europe. 

Subtraction  has  been  neglected  in  the  pursuit  of 
multiplication,  and  arithmetic  has  been  buried  beneath 
the  unknown  quantities  of  algebra.  On  the  portals  to 
any  information  not  outlined  for  the  particular  grade  has 
been  posted  the  red  or  yellow  sign  of  contagion — conta- 
gion of  intelligence  not  needed  in  that  grade. 

And,  finally,  so  brief  is  the  life  of  school  at  best,  and 
so  little  its  achievements,  that  our  highest  aim  should  be 
to  create  a  hunger  and  thirst  for  all  true  knowledge,  to 
inspire  a  love  of  all  useful  learning,  ever  looking  with 
the  hope,  the  faith  of  childhood,  nay,  with  the  assurance 
of  manhood,  to  the  fulfillment  of  that  noblest  reward  of 
our  efforts,  when  we  shall  no  longer  see,  as  through  a 
glass  darkly,  but  then  shall  see  face  to  face ;  when  no 


THE  TEACHER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  89 

more  shall  we  know,  as  now,  but  in  part,  but  in  the 
highest  presence  shall  know,  even  as  we  are  known. 


VI. 

THE  TEACHER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM. 

IK  this  work  of  ours,  whatever  be  the  theories  we 
may  evolve  or  the  methods  we  devise,  the  result  is  to  be 
wrought  out  in  the  school-room.  In  the  school-room  is 
to  be  found  the  test  of  their  worth,  the  truth  or  untruth 
of  our  philosophies.  In  the  quiet  study,  indeed,  must 
the  facts  and  suggestions  of  life  be  deeply  conned  and 
considered,  old  systems  changed  and  new  ones  formed ; 
but  in  the  school-room  are  best  studied  those  nerve-cen- 
ters of  educational  life  whence  our  richest  experiences  are 
to  be  drawn  and  where  our  best  laid  plans  are  to  meet 
their  condemnation  or  reward. 

It  is  not  the  recluse  with  his  abstruse  thought  and 
pure  reason,  nor  the  philosopher  with  his  broad  general- 
izations and  logical  deductions,  nor  yet  the  statistician 
with  his  cold  columns  of  recorded  data,  who  is  to  work 
out  the  true  problem  of  school-life,  but  by  the  keenly  ob- 
servant, thoughtful  teacher  in  the  school-room,  in  closest 
relations  and  deep  sympathy  with  the  living  child  in  his 
eagerness  and  restlessness,  his  waywardness  and  trustful- 
ness, are  to  be  studied  the  changeful  phenomena  whose 
true  apprehension  shall  give  him  assurance  of  success. 

Noble  as  our  work  is  accounted,  and  assuredly  should 
be,  yet  it  consists  largely  of  little  things.  No  great 
events  or  glaring  deeds  are  to  herald  the  good  teacher's 
success  and  urge  him  on  to  renewed  efforts,  nor  has  he 


90  PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

the  ready  means  by  which  to  judge  of  the  results.  The 
farmer  may  measure  his  products,  the  merchant  sum  up 
his  profits  or  his  losses,  and  the  broker  count  his  gains, 
but  how  little  can  we  see  at  the  close  of  the  day  or  the 
week  of  our  work  !  We  have  compassed  so  many  lines, 
so  many  pages,  it  may  be,  but  what  has  been  done  for 
the  pupil's  growth,  the  development  of  his  powers,  for 
his  integrity  or  his  real  intelligence,  what  toward  giving 
him  a  true  direction  in  life  ?  A  large  faith,  a  great  hope, 
a  faith  in  childhood,  a  hope  and  trust  in  earnest,  faith- 
ful, well-directed  effort,  an  enduring  love  of  the  service, 
must  be  the  essentials  of  the  deserving  teacher,  the  first 
elements  of  fitness  for  the  school-room. 

With  what  joy  and  pride  and  sometimes  awe  does  the 
little  six-year-old  make  preparations  for  his  first  day  in 
school  !  It  is  the  goal  on  which  for  weary  days  his  swell- 
ing heart  has  been  fixed.  Morning  after  morning  has  he 
anxiously  stood  to  see  his  older  companions  pass  in  noisy 
groups  and  turned  tearfully  away  with  the  feeling  that 
the  sluggish  hour  would  never  come ;  and  now  he,  too, 
with  his  new  shoes,  perhaps,  and  mended  coat,  is  to  enter 
that  mysterious  portal.  And  there  at  the  threshold,  like 
a  fairy  princess,  should  stand  the  sympathetic  teacher, 
with  smiling  welcome  to  receive  him,  to  crown  his  hopes 
with  her  sweet  confidence  and  kindly  care,  and  assign  him 
his  seat,  the  throne  of  his  childish  ambition,  and  his 
desk,  the  ban que ting-table  of  his  curious  and  wondering 
heart. 

Fortunate,  indeed,  is  the  pupil  on  whom  this  new  life 
shall  never  pall,  and  favored  with  the  choicest  gifts  the 
teacher  who  shall  give  to  this  new  relationship  an  ever 
stronger  and  more  enduring  bond,  that  when  the  strange- 
ness, the  novelty  shall  pass  away,  it  shall  give  place  to  an 
attractive  charm,  that  for  the  welcoming  fairy,  by  a  sweet 


THE   TEACHER   IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  91 

transformation,  shall  now  stand  the  kind  friend,  the  wise 
counselor,  the  trusted  guide,  the  respected  teacher.  The 
needful  restraint  of  the  school  must  he  relieved  by  its 
cheerful  enforcement,  the  tiresome  monotony  enlivened 
by  a  pleasing  variety,  the  eager  curiosity  preserved  by 
presenting  ever  something  fresh  and  new,  something  to 
discover  and  learn. 

For  his  activities  new  channels  must  be  opened,  some- 
thing given  him  to  do,  to  represent,  to  make,  that  in 
place  of  those  weary  hours  of  enforced  silence  and  dull 
quietude  we  may  find  the  pleasing  signs  of  orderly  life, 
of  directed  energies,  and  well  regulated  growth.  Though 
the  school-house  is  not  a  play-house,  nor  school-life  play, 
it  may  be  none  the  less  enjoyable.  Excellence  in  govern- 
ment is  no  longer  measured  by  the  test  of  folded  hands 
and  slumbrous  stillness.  The  change  from  home-life  to 
school-life  is  great  enough  at  best,  and  the  first  requisite 
of  the  teacher  is  the  power  so  to  control  and  guide  the 
pupils  along  the  paths  of  learning,  so  to  place  before 
them  objects  of  interest  and  usefulness  that  the  unthink- 
ing joy  of  their  entrance  upon  school-life  shall  change, 
with  their  expanding  powers  and  clearer  aims,  into  the 
deeper  satisfactions  and  more  earnest  thoughtfulness  of  a 
wiser  intelligence  and  larger  nature,  that  our  pupils,  in- 
stead of  dropping  away  disheartened  one  by  one,  like  the 
deserters  from  an  unsuccessful  army,  may  with  courage 
kindled  to  enthusiasm  advance  to  each  new  grade  or 
study  with  the  ardor  of  assured  victors.  Even  were  the 
school  but  an  agreeable  resort  for  the  child,  where  he 
might  be  watched  and  tenderly  cared  for,  safe  from  the 
evil  influences  of  the  street  during  the  parents'  busy 
hours  of  toil,  it  would  not  be  wholly  in  vain ;  but  he  is 
here  for  a  still  higher  purpose,  as  was  just  suggested. 
He  is  here  to  be  instructed,  educated,  lifted  to  a  wider 


92  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

intelligence,  with  firmer  purposes  and  truer  aims.  He  has 
thus  far  been  trying  and  learning  of  his  powers  of  body 
and  mind  and  familiarizing  himself  with  his  surround- 
ings,  as  chance  or  desire  has  led  him  on,  turning  from 
this  to  that,  from  plaything  to  pet,  from  pet  to  floating 
butterfly,  beginning  some  plan  only  to  leave  it  for  some- 
thing else,  as  his  varying  mood  or  heedless  impulse  has 
directed. 

Now  must  he  learn  to  study  things  more  closely  and 
consecutively,  to  pursue  some  plan  more  persistently — 
take  reason  in  place  of  whim  for  a  guide.  He  must  learn 
to  submit  to  the  leadings  of  others  in  those  untried  paths 
where  his  untaught  steps  would  carry  him  astray.  Now, 
little  by  little,  must  he  learn  the  power  of  well-directed, 
continuous  effort,  resisting  the  call  of  pleasure  or  passion 
to  draw  him  aside.  Now,  too,  must  he  begin  to  learn 
what  others  have  said  and  done,  and  how  the  record  has 
been  made  and  preserved,  and  how  to  record  his  own 
thoughts  and  experiences — that  marvelous  art  by  which 
the  deepest  thought,  the  most  delicate  sentiment,  the 
highest  truths  and  most  profound  philosophies,  may  be 
spread  out  in  visible  form  and  made  our  own. 

Within  what  a  narrow  circle  would  our  lives  be  run 
were  we  shut  up  to  the  paltry  measure  of  our  own  seeing 
and  doing !  The  key  to  a  wisdom,  power,  and  intelli- 
gence beyond  the  accomplishment  of  centuries  by  their 
own  unaided  doings  has  the  child  who  can  read  under- 
standingly  "This  is  a  man." 

For  this  work  a  teacher  can  hardly  be  too  well  prepared. 
How  often  are  we  reminded  that  no  great  amount  of 
scholarship  is  needed  to  teach  the  first  reader  and  instruct 
in  number  from  one  to  ten  !  But  it  is  not  the  mere  call- 
ing of  words  or  the  summing  up  of  twos  and  threes  with 
which  she  has  to  do. 


THE  TEACHER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  93 

Even  here  the  clear  enunciation,  the  easy  utterance, 
the  pleasing  tone,  the  unaffected  grace  of  the  pupil,  will 
appear  only  as  the  reflection  of  these  in  the  well-trained, 
well-informed,  cultivated  teacher.  Even  here  in  the 
earlier  grades,  and  perhaps  here  more  especially,  a  famil- 
iar knowledge  of  both  physical  and  mental  physiology  is 
needed — a  ready  knowledge  of  the  right  uses  of  the  vari- 
ous powers  of  body  and  mind,  and  the  laws  of  their 
growth  and  development,  and  by  what  slight  causes  they 
may  be  distorted,  and  their  healthful  unfolding  arrested 
or  retarded.  A  recognition  of  the  diversity  of  mental 
and  moral  as  of  physical  features  should  belong  to  him 
who  makes  teaching  his  special  work. 

In  the  physical  world,  the  earth,  the  rock,  the  tree, 
the  plant,  the  flower,  the  fruit,  the  beast,  the  bird,  the 
fish — what  illustrative  material  is  found  for  the  lower  as 
well  as  the  higher  grades,  combining  the  sweetest  pleas- 
ure with  the  highest  use  !  Surely  the  elements  of  geol- 
ogy, botany,  and  zoology  are  not  beyond  the  teacher's 
needs. 

And  what  a  power  from  the  first  to  the  last  has  she 
who  has  at  her  command  the  graphic  art,  the  use  of 
crayon  and  pencil ! 

Not  as  an  ornamental  branch,  a  pretty  accomplish- 
ment, does  it  come  to  the  school-room,  but  as  an  essential 
part  of  all  good  work,  enchaining  the  almost  infant  mind, 
illuming  the  pages  of  history  and  geography,  and  mak- 
ing the  study  of  the  sciences  a  possibility. 

We  talk  much  and  often  of  the  study  of  the  child- 
nature,  its  powers  and  its  susceptibilities,  but  this  is  no 
new  study  ;  it  has  claimed  the  attention  and  commanded 
the  best  thought  of  sage  and  philosopher,  and  little  ad- 
vance will  he  make  who  comes  to  the  consideration  of 
the  child-life  with  no  knowledge  of  results  already  reached. 


91  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

"There  were  kings  in  Greece  before  Agamemnon."  As 
well  might  the  student  in  astronomy  disregard  all  the 
past,  and  begin  anew  the  old  star-gazing  of  Chaldea, 
without  even  the  aid  of  smoked  glass,  as  the  young 
teacher  turn  from  the  writings  of  those  who  have  made 
teacher  and  teaching  a  life-study.  Phenomenal  as  the 
first  child  is  in  a  young  household,  the  pupil  at  school  is 
not  like  a  new  comet,  whose  elements  must  all  be  calcu- 
lated anew.  Rarely  does  a  disease  appear  or  accident 
occur  whose  like  is  not  recorded  in  the  books. 

One  who  has  never  taught  learns  little  from  visiting 
another's  school  in  comparison  with  him  who  there  sees 
his  own  errors  in  a  new  light,  and  finds  methods  and  de- 
vices for  which  he  has  sought  in  vain,  and  which  he  may 
put  to  a  wiser  use  in  increasing  his  own  efficiency  and 
worth. 

And  without  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  the  studies 
and  results  of  some  of  the  past  leaders  of  thought  and 
adepts  in  practice,  poor  and  unfruitful  will  be  the  young 
and  unskilled  teacher's  explorations  into  the  mysteries 
of  the  child-nature.  Errors  have  been  made  which  need 
not  be  repeated  ;  methods  tried  and  found  wanting  which 
have  no  present  place,  save  in  the  museum  of  the  anti- 
quary. 

But  with  the  well-studied  chart  of  past  experience 
and  the  compass  of  well-established  principles  before  him, 
with  a  watchful  and  discerning  eye  and  a  firm  and  steady 
hand,  may  the  true  pilot  bring  his  craft  with  its  precious 
freight  through  changeful  seas,  'neath  varying  skies,  past 
sunken  rocks  and  treacherous  sands,  to  the  safe  harbor  of 
the  destined  port. 

And,  perhaps,  no  period  of  our  history  has  been  more 
keenly  alive  to  the  importance  of  right  aims  and  means, 
or  been  richer  in  wholesome  result,  than  the  present. 


THE   TEACHER  IN   THE   SCHOOL-ROOM.  95 

These  daily  records  have  not  many  of  them  yet  reached 
the  formal  volume,  and  are  to  be  found  only  in  the  in- 
telligent journal  and  thoughtful  magazine,  not  to  he 
ignored  by  him  who  would  be  in  the  line  of  present 
progress. 

But  it  is  not  every  new  method  that  is  to  be  adopted 
before  putting  it  to  the  proof.  People  in  haste  to  descry 
the  new  prophet  may  cry,  "  Lo,  here  ! "  or  "  Lo,  there  ! " 
but  the  end  is  not  yet.  Prove  all  things  intelligently, 
and  from  the  poorest  teacher  we  may  often  derive  aid  and 
valuable  assistance. 

It  is  at  least  curious,  if  not  instructive,  to  study  the 
lives  of  educational  reformers.  How  many  of  us  are 
familiar  with  the  life  and  work  of  Pestalozzi,  the  father 
of  object  lessons  and  language  work,  the  two  great  ideas 
of  to-day  ?  No  more  unpractical  man,  perhaps,  ever 
lived.  At  school  he  was  "dubbed  Harry  Oddity,  of 
Foolborough,"  and  school-boys  often  show  an  instinct 
before  which  the  wisdom  of  age  may  bow  in  lowly  rever- 
ence. After  trying  a  profession  and  business  with  no 
success,  he  turned  to  school-keeping,  and  it  is  perhaps 
well  to  note  how  often  an  utter  unfitness  for  any  other 
calling  is  regarded  as  conclusive  evidence  of  a  call  as 
teacher. 

The  history  of  education  presents  no  more  lamentable 
failure  than  his.  Never  could  he  keep  a  school  together 
for  a  year. 

After  a  score  of  years  of  poverty  and  despondency,  he 
wrote,  among  other  things,  a  novel,  upon  which  his  repu- 
tation depends.  Other  things  he  wrote  of  no  worth,  and 
again  was  driven  to  the  last  resort  of  teaching,  but  to  no 
other  purpose  than  to  prove,  as  he  himself  says,  "  his  un- 
rivaled incapacity  to  govern." 

Nor  was  Froebel  much  better.     His  prime  idea  of 


96  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

"the  spontaneity  of  the  child"  could  hardly  lead  to  any 
end  but  confusion  and  failure.  And  yet  from  these 
wrecks  have  been  saved  some  of  the  most  fruitful  theories 
of  to-day,  gathered  and  systematized  by  more  practical 
workers. 

But  educational  works  are  not  the  only  or,  it  may 
be,  the  most  important  part  of  a  teacher's  outfit.  A 
wider  culture  must  he  seek  who  would  most  benefit  hia 
pupils.  Narrow,  indeed,  must  be  the  study,  the  thought, 
the  heart  of  him  who  goes  not  beyond  the  dry  and  beaten 
path  of  text-book  and  school  literature. 

Text-books  are  but  mere  guide-posts,  pointing  the 
way  to  the  inexperienced  teacher^  but  giving  little  knowl- 
edge of  the  wood,  the  field,  the  country  through  which 
he  passes ;  or,  changing  the  figure,  they  are  but  skele- 
tons, suggestive  of  what  might  have  been,  but  leaving  us 
as  ignorant  as  before  of  the  life  and  character,  the  work 
and  worth,  of  him  whom  they  had  upborne.  Little  has 
he  of  grammar,  of  language,  who,  planting  himself  upon 
the  text-book,  is  not  read,  and  well  read,  in  the  works  of 
those  who  are  skillful  in  its  use,  familiar  with  their  nice 
expression,  their  delicate  shading  of  thought,  and  their 
clear  and  distinct  utterances. 

In  the  reading  circles  that  to-day  are  forming  all 
through  the  land,  as  I  look  over  the  lists  of  books,  I  seem 
to  see  too  much  of  this  narrowing  tendency  of  our  work, 
too  much  mere  text-book  study.  Better,  it  seems  to  me, 
would  be  the  little  gathering  or  club  whose  members 
should  meet  to  study  Longfellow  or  Tennyson,  Haw- 
thorne or  Shakespeare,  Motley  or  Green,  comparing 
thought  with  thought,  exciting  by  the  attrition  of  mind 
with  mind  a  living  magnetism,  through  whose  influence 
life  should  be  infused  into  the  otherwise  dead  forms  of 
expression. 


THE  TEACHER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  97 


School-life,  unless  thus  enlivened  and  broadened  by 
literature  and  science,  by  mental  contact,  is  a  narrowing 
life,  as  that  life  must  be  that  forever  closes  in  and  in  upon 
itself,  busy  always  with  minds  narrower  and  weaker  than 
its  own. 

I  have  dwelt  thus  upon  the  qualifications  of  the 
teacher  because  here,  as  it  seems  to  me,  lies  the  strength, 
the  hope  of  our  schools.  If  we  are  to  throw  off  the  be- 
littling bondage  of  text-book,  and  reduce  it  to  its  proper 
place  as  a  ready  aid  and  suggestive  guide  to  our  pupils, 
wo  must,  by  a  wider  range  and  a  larger  comprehension, 
possess  ourselves  of  the  subjects ;  we  must  clothe  the  skele- 
ton with  muscle  and  nerve,  and  breathe  into  it  the  breath 
of  life. 

If  we  would  teach  our  pupils  to  examine  thoughtfully, 
to  collate,  compare,  and  judiciously  decide,  we  must  give 
them  an  opportunity  to  present  their  views,  discussing 
with  them  their  conclusions,  meeting  their  criticisms  and 
wrong  deductions,  not  by  our  mere  arbitrary  dicta,  but 
by  more  convincing  arguments,  wise  enough,  too,  to  con- 
fess our  own  errors  when  in  fault,  without  attempts  at 
unworthy  subterfuge  or  feeling  of  humiliation. 

Very  little  of  the  logic  of  mathematics  does  a  class 
receive  from  a  teacher  with  whom  a  key  is  a  necessity. 

This  earnest,  vigorous  thought,  this  honest  endeavor, 
the  tracing  of  the  relations  of  causes  and  results,  induces 
a  love  of  truth  and  right  which  we  call  virtue — the  in- 
tegrity of  purpose  which  we  call  character.  Thoughtless 
submission  to  unsupported  authority  is  not  character, 
nor  heedless  innocence,  of  necessity,  morality.  It  con- 
sists rather  in  duty  known  and  performed,  that  which  is 
due  to  ourselves,  as  thinking  beings,  and  to  our  fellows  ; 
and  with  this  knowledge  and  performance  on  the  part  of 
our  pupils  the  teacher  has  much  to  do. 
8 


98  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 


The  larger  thought  and  broader  culture  is  needed  to 
burst  the  wrappings  of  that  ignorant  self-conceit,  whose 
ever-thickening  and  hardening  folds  withhold  the  growth 
and  crush  the  life  out  of  the  tender  germs  of  all  that 
is  generous  and  good,  leaving  us,  as  literature  has  been 
so  fond  of  representing,  but  withered,  crackling  husks, 
with  little  within  but  dust  and  fruitlessness. 

But  not  with  the  entrance  upon  the  teacher's  life  in 
the  school,  with  certificate  signed  and  secured,  is  this 
preparation  to  end.  Most  of  our  teachers  enter  upon  the 
work  at  too  early  an  age  to  have  had  any  extended  read- 
ing or  careful  study  beyond  the  requirements  of  the  class- 
room. 

Every  day  should  add  something  new  to  the  outfit 
of  the  teacher.  From  the  first  day  with  the  primary 
grade  to  the  last  of  the.  high-school  or  the  college  the 
teacher  who  would  succeed  can  not  safely  neglect  special 
preparation  for  the  day's  work,  ever  seeking  for  some 
means  for  securing  a  closer  sympathy  with  his  pupils, 
some  way  of  presenting  the  subject  more  naturally  and 
more  efficiently,  some  new  illustration,  some  truer  aim, 
some  higher  motive. 

And  with  every  day  and  every  exercise  should  he 
enter  upon  his  work  with  a  distinct  and  clearly  defined 
purpose,  a  full  comprehension  of  what  he  designs  to  ac- 
complish, a  comprehension  of  the  pupil's  past  achieve- 
ments, and  the  true  relation  of  his  present  performance 
to  his  future  progress.  He  is  not  merely  to  adapt  him- 
self and  his  teachings  to  the  chance  mood  or  caprice  of 
the  pupils,  but  thoughtfully  and  skillfully  to  control 
their  undisciplined,  untamed  thought,  and  lead  it  almost 
unconsciously  into  the  well-considered  and  directed  chan- 
nel of  his  own  purposes. 

Were  the  spontaneity  of  the  child  alone  to  be  consid- 


THE  TEACHER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.       99 

ered,  he  had  better  have  remained  at  home  teazing  the 
cat,  impaling  the  fly,  or  digging  in  the  sand. 

If  to-day  is  frittered  away  in  aimless  effort,  there  is 
no  basis  for  the  work  of  to-morrow,  and  the  morrow  finds 
teacher  and  pupils  all  adrift  upon  an  unknown  sea,  the 
bearings  lost,  the  log  untried,  their  bark  forced  far  from 
her  true  course  by  unseen  currents,  with  no  approach  to 
the  desired  haven. 

This  fixedness  of  purpose,  this  definite  aim  in  the 
teacher,  can  hardly  be  too  strongly  urged — this  making 
each  day's  work  but  a  stepping-stone  to  the  work  of  the 
next.  Disconnected  facts  are  of  little  avail  in  education. 
There  is  a  logic  of  events,  as  of  life,  and  it  is  only  in 
their  true  relation  that  many  of  the  incidents  of  life  and 
of  history  are  important. 

Illustration  and  embellishment  are  valuable  only  as 
they  awaken  a  new  interest,  fix  the  attention,  and  bring 
out  more  clearly  the  points  under  consideration.  Only 
the  philosopher  can  wholly  discard  them  and  deal  with 
plain,  unadorned  expression  of  pure  thought  and  reason. 
But  how  often  are  the  illustrations  allowed,  and  by  the 
more  scholarly,  too,  to  divert  the  mind  of  the  pupil  from 
the  real  object  of  thought,  distracting  his  attention,  and 
obscuring  that  clearness  of  mental  vision  which  should 
be  the  aim  of  all  our  endeavor. 

I  recall  an  exercise  in  reading  in  which  Naples  was 
incidentally  introduced.  This  suggested  its  beautiful 
bay  and  the  neighboring  volcano.  What  more  natural 
than  to  recall  the  exhumation  of  that  old  Pompeian  vice, 
question  following  question,  leading  to  the  excavations 
at  old  Troy  and  the  reality  of  the  Trojan  war  and  the 
personality  of  Homer.  Whether  Shakespeare  and  the  au- 
thorship of  his  plays  and  sonnets  were  to  follow,  the  brev- 
ity of  time  and  this  life  would  not  permit  me  to  learn. 


100  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

But  I  had  heard  no  reading.  Perhaps  some  thought 
had  been  started,  some  information  gained,  some  pleasure 
afforded,  but  it  had  not  been  a  reading-lesson ;  the  in- 
formation was  all  desultory  and  ineffective  ;  the  thought, 
as  I  felt,  had  been  squandered,  the  reason  enfeebled,  the 
whole  purpose  of  the  exercise  missed,  for  which'  sad  re- 
sults the  doubtful  pleasure  could  be  but  a  sorry  compensa- 
tion. Might  they  not  as  well  have  been  observing  the 
changing  pictures  of  the  kaleidoscope,  with  as  fair  a  pros- 
pect of  any  worthy  results  either  of  discipline  or  intelli- 
gence ? 

In  the  treatment  of  any  given  topic  by  the  author,  on 
every  page  there  is  much  that  is  comparatively  unimpor- 
tant, much  whose  importance  depends  upon  the  compre- 
hension of  the  pupil.  It  is  the  essentials  that  should  be 
made  clear  and  indelible,  and,  if  these  are  thoroughly 
grasped,  the  explanations  and  illustrations  may  well  be 
lightly  passed. 

With  a  definite  purpose  in  the  mind  of  the  teacher, 
and  the  desire,  too,  to  induce  the  habit  and  the  power  of 
connected,  logical  thought  in  the  pupil,  the  same  event 
may  often  be  considered  from  different  points,  and  in  its 
relation  to  different  subjects. 

The  character  of  an  administration  may  be  studied  in 
its  bearing  upon  our  foreign  relations,  with  regard  to  our 
internal  policy,  or  with  reference  to  the  relations  of  the 
different  States,  requiring  in  each  case  its  peculiar  col- 
location of  acts  and  events,  with  varying  importance  as- 
signed to  the  same  act  or  measure. 

One  of  the  great  objections  to  memoriter  recitations 
is  that  they  leave  the  relative  importance  of  facts  and 
events  entirely  out  of  view,  giving  as  much  emphasis  to 
the  scarlet  and  purple  of  Sir  Edmund  Andrus  as  to  the 
skirmish  at  Lexington  or  the  surrender  at  Yorktown. 


THE  TEACHER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  1Q1 

And  even  a  topical  study  and  recitation  from  the  same 
long  list  of  topics  upon  the  blackboard  for  each  and  every 
State  and  country  is  open  to  the  same  objection,  the 
Thames,  with  the  wealth  of  the  world  upon  its  bosom, 
hardly  taking  rank  above  some  trout  stream  in  Wiscon- 
sin, and  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  rivaling  Lake  Michigan. 

In  answer  to  a  request  in  a  late  teachers'  examination 
to  give  four  or  five  of  the  more  important  commercial 
rivers  of  Europe,  the  Thames  and  the  Seine  had  rare 
mention  in  comparison  with  some  unpronounceable,  un- 
heard-of streams  in  the  frozen  regions  of  Eussia. 

Pupils  should  early  in  these  studies  be  taught  them- 
selves to  distinguish  the  important  features  of  the  State, 
passing  some  with  little  more  than  a  courteous  nod  of 
recognition,  and  dwelling  upon  others  with  careful  and 
thoughtful  investigation.  In  the  early  colonial  settle- 
ment of  this  country  hardly  more  than  two  or  three  have 
any  special  bearing  upon  our  national  development  and 
character. 

Nor  can  there  be  a  more  fatal  mistake,  I  think,  than 
to  feel  that  every  subject  must  be  exhausted  before  ad- 
vancing to  the  next.  Few  are  the  topics  even  in  the 
lower  grades  that  can  be  considered  in  all  their  details. 
There  are  in  numbers  from  one  to  ten  many  points  that 
demand  a  well-trained  intellect,  a  nice  discrimination,  a 
familiarity  with  some  of  the  higher  mathematics  to  dis- 
cuss satisfactorily — points  on  which  the  keenest  intellects 
may  still  whet  their  sharpest  thought,  points  whose  con- 
sideration is  futile,  if  not  confusing,  to  the  children  who 
can  not  give  the  sum  of  three  and  four  without  counting. 

To  the  child  the  half  of  four  quarters  is  as  simple  as 
the  half  of  four  wholes,  and  it  is  as  easy  to  count  quar- 
ters as  wholes,  by  twos  and  threes,  without  troubling 
them  too  long  with  the  distinction  of  division  and  separa- 


102  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

tion,  the  question  of  dividing  fractions  by  whole  numbers, 
et  id  omne  genus,  which  may  be  safely  left  to  mathemati- 
cal experts  and  normal  teachers  for  the  diversion  of  their 
long  winter  evenings,  over  the  fragrant  coffee  and  tooth- 
some cake. 

Many  are  the  topics  of  the  early  grades  to  which  the 
advanced  teacher  should  sometimes  revert  when  the  fit- 
ting time  comes  round,  when  the  higher  principles  and 
broader  generalizations  will  throw  a  flood  of  light  into 
many  an  obscure  corner. 

It  is  important,  too,  that  the  teacher  even  of  the  first 
grades  should  be  familiar  with  subjects  that  are  to  come 
later,  some  in  the  grammar,  some  in  the  high  school, 
that  she  may  so  shape  her  instruction  that  nothing  be 
taught  which  the  learned  high-school  teacher  shall  feel 
called  upon  to  deny.  Even  in  planting  the  seed  it  is 
well  to  know  whether  it  be  designed  to  produce  a  bean- 
stalk or  an  oak,  and  whether  the  sprouting  germ  will 
first  push  its  blade  or  its  root  to  the  light.  In  this  view, 
too,  the  value  of  reviews  becomes  more  distinct  and  pro- 
nounced in  bringing  out  the  strong,  the  essential  points 
of  the  subject,  and  fixing  them  in  the  memory,  in  seeing 
the  several  topics  in  their  right  relations  as  parts  of  one 
connected  whole,  unobscured  by  many  a  suggestion  and 
explanation,  which  had  been  introduced  simply  as  aids  to 
the  right  understanding  of  the  subject,  or  as  stagings  for 
the  builders  which  must  needs  be  removed  before  the 
temple  can  be  seen  in  its  symmetry  and  its  beauty.  A  re- 
view is  a  far  different  thing  from  an  ordinary  daily  reci- 
tation, calling  into  exercise  different  powers  and  fraught 
with  higher  results ;  and  reviews  themselves  should  be 
varied,  now  consisting  of  little  more  than  a  concise  analy- 
sis, and  again  tracing  more  closely  the  true  line  of  the 
argument  or  discussion,  A  review  of  the  previous  lesson 


THE   TEACHER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  103 

should  be  considered  as  much  a  part  of  the  daily  recita- 
tion as  the  parts  assigned  in  advance  ;  and  the  custom  of 
some  of  employing  the  last  few  minutes  of  an  exercise  in 
gathering  up  the  important  thoughts  of  the  lesson  just 
recited  is  by  no  means  an  unfruitful  one. 

After  a  careful,  critical  examination  of  a  page  in 
Latin,  in  which  for  purposes  of  construction  or  compar- 
ison of  idioms  the  text  has  been  followed  too  closely  for 
elegance,  how  can  the  work  be  better  completed  than 
by  calling  upon  some  two  or  three  to  give  a  simple,  unin- 
terrupted translation  in  genuine  idiomatic  English,  with 
a  due  observance  of  the  points  so  critically  discussed  at 
the  first  rendering  ? 

How  slight  the  task,  too,  in  the  higher  grade,  with  its 
greater  maturity  and  larger  grasp,  to  comprehend  some 
difficulties  of  a  topic  over  which  the  most  thoughtful  and 
laborious  effort  of  teacher  and  pupil  would  have  been  in 
vain  two  or  three  years  earlier  where  the  subject  was  out- 
lined in  the  graded  course  ! 

And  if  we  would  awaken  or  preserve  the  enthusiasm, 
quicken  the  interest,  and  secure  the  attention  of  our  pu- 
pils, there  must  be  progression  in  our  work.  Each  new 
lesson  must  present  something  new  and  interesting,  some- 
thing worth  knowing.  No  mere  humdrum  of  familiar 
facts,  with  endless  and  listless  repetition,  till  the  pupils, 
and  sometimes  the  teachers,  lose  sight  of  the  very  mean- 
ing of  the  words  and  formulas  repeated  will  suffice.  Not 
a  line  should  be  gone  over  without  something  to  stimu- 
late inquiry  and  call  forth  new  and  more  strenuous  effort, 
something  whose  successful  accomplishment  shall  give  a 
deeper  joy,  a  fuller  satisfaction.  Each  morning  should 
the  pupil  feel  that  a  discovery  awaits  him,  drawing  him 
resistlessly  to  school,  wondering  within  himself  that  nine 
o'clock  comes  so  late.  I  have  known  such  schools  and 


104:  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

seen  such  pupils,  the  product  of  such  teachers.  It  would 
seem  that  a  little  thought  in  this  direction  would  clear 
up  the  foggy  atmosphere  hanging  gloomily  over  the 
much-mooted  subject  of  grammar  and  parsing. 

It  is  not  the  technical  character  of  the  subject  that  is 
objected  to.  All  science  to  be  of  worth  must  be  techni- 
cal, must  be  accurate,  with  well-defined  terms,  or  all  dis- 
cussion will  be  worthless  and  investigation  vain.  It  is 
the  dreary,  fruitless  routine  that  should  be  avoided,  and 
the  arbitrary,  unmeaning  terms. 

Where  is  the  child  of  ten  years  who  does  not  know 
that  hat  is  singular  if  he  knows  the  meaning  of  singular, 
a  single  thing ;  that  man  is  masculine ;  that  book  is  of 
the  third  person,  though  just  how  and  when  it  became  a 
person  at  all  might  perplex  him  a  little  at  first  ?  The 
earlier  lesson,  why  /  should  be  of  the  first  person,  you  of 
the  second,  and  he  of  the  third,  might  well  employ  a  few 
minutes  for  clear  apprehension.  It  may  be  necessary  to 
call  their  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  thing  hat  is  not  a 
noun  at  all,  though  the  want  of  that  might  not  appreci- 
ably affect  his  success  in  life. 

But  this  parsing  is  what  is  incomprehensible.  Why 
not  adopt  the  same  process  in  the  other  branches  ?  Why 
not  in  geography,  for  example,  require  the  form  :  Chica- 
go is  a  city.  Rule :  A  city  is  a  collective  body  of  inhab- 
itants incorporated  and  governed  by  a  mayor  and  alder- 
men. It  has  so  many  inhabitants.  Rule:  Inhabitants 
are  the  people  who  live  in  the  city.  Exception:  Most 
people  live  in  the  country.  It  is  situated  on  Lake  Michi- 
gan. Rule :  A  lake  is  a  body  of  fresh  water  larger  than 
a  pond.  Exception:  Some  lakes  are  salt.  Exception 
second :  Some  ponds  are  larger  than  some  lakes.  Shop- 
ping is  mostly  done  by  women.  Rule:  Woman  is  a 
complex,  limiting  modifier  of  the  first  class.  Excep- 


THE  TEACHER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  105 

tion :  Some  women  are  school-teachers.  Remark :  Many 
persons  have  no  limiting  modifiers.  Remark  second: 
Such  persons  are  sometimes  called  independent  cases. 
And  so  on  through  the  cities  of  the  State  and  country. 

This  may  and  probably  does  seem  idle  twaddle ;  but 
it  is  no  exaggeration  of  what  we  are  daily  doing  in  our 
classes  in  grammar  and  parsing. 

And  then,  too,  the  rules  which  we  force  into  the  un- 
willing minds.  "An  article  modifies  the  noun  which  it 
limits."  For  instance,  "A  boy  plays."  In  what  way  is 
boy  modified  ?  What  do  we  know  of  his  age,  size,  or  dis- 
position ?  It  is  bad  enough  to  say  that  an  article  limits, 
for  in  this  case  it  removes  all  limits,  making  it  the  uni- 
versal boy.  Again,  "A  verb  agrees  with  its  subject  in 
number  and  person."  "I  wrote,  you  wrote,  he  wrote; 
we  wrote,  you  wrote,  they  wrote."  A  most  agreeable 
collection  of  verbal  forms,  surely.  Can  it  greatly 
serve  to  cultivate  an  accurate,  critical  habit  of  thought  ? 
And,  as  if  this  were  not  enough,  the  pupil  must  "by 
hook  or  crook  "  learn  to  diagram  it  upon  the  blackboard  ; 
but  such  expressions  as  "  I  done  it,"  "  He  has  never  went 
to  any  other  school,"  "I  hain't  got  no  pen,"  will  all 
yield  sweet  subservience  to  the  demands  of  the  links  and 
kinks  of  diagramming.  What  endless,  useless  repetition, 
too,  is  required  in  going  through  a  paragraph  when  per- 
haps but  a  single  word  or  two  merit  any  attention  1 
Whatever  thought  there  is  must  precede  the  analysis, 
while  the  diagram  gives  little  evidence  of  a  correct  under- 
standing. 

Notice  the  familiar  lines  : 

The  curfew  tolls  the  knell  of  parting  day. 

Plain  and  simple.  As  plain  as  can  be ;  not  an  obscurity 
or  an  inversion  ;  nothing  simpler. 


106  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

The  lowing  herd  winds  slowly  o'er  the  lea. 
So: 

The  plowman  homeward  plods  his  weary  way. 

And  so,  too  : 

And  leaves  the  world  to  darkness  and  to  me. 

There  is  nothing  of  grammar  to  warrant  a  moment's 
attention  of  the  pupil  ready  to  appreciate  the  poem.  Let 
him  rather  consider  the  origin  of  the  curfew,  and  the 
conditions  making  such  a  precaution  necessary  ;  the  total 
loss  of  the  first  meaning,  since  the  cows  are  but  just 
coming  home  ;  the  nice  use  of  "parting  "  not  "depart- 
ing "  in  connection  with  the  dying  day ;  the  lowing  herd  ; 
wind,  not  winds,  as  some  of  the  books  have  it,  in  long 
line  to  the  milking ;  the  alliteration  in  plowman  plods 
and  weary  way. 

What  pretty  subjects,  too,  for  descriptive  composition 
here  !  What  a  pleasing  variety  would  be  furnished  by 
the  pupils  according  to  their  mental  pictures  ! 

A  due  regard  for  the  essentials  of  thought  will  do 
much  to  promote  good  reading,  and  without  it  there  can 
be  no  good  reading  or  speaking,  whatever  the  elocution- 
ary powei  or  dramatic  art  exhibited.  For  example  : 

Within  this  lowly  grave  a  conqueror  lies — 
— not  a  beggar — 

And  yet  the  monument  proclaims  it  not. 
— i.  e.,  there  is  no  monument,  save  a  simple  headstone — 

Nor  round  the  sleeper's  name  hath  chisel  wrought — 
— no  sculpture  there — 

A  simple  name  alone. 

Nothing  but  the  name ;  no  title.     Nor  was  it  a  simple 
name — the  good,  honored  name  of  "Sarah." 


THE  TEACHER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  1Q7 

Again  : 

With  love  she  conquered  hate — 

— not  with  hate,  as  is  often  done — 

And  overcame  evil  with  good—: 
— not  evil — 

In  her  great  Master's  name — 

— trusting  not  in  her  own  strength,  but  his. 

There  is  no  need  here  of  inquiry  as  to  the  reader's 
understanding  of  the  thought.  It  has  been  already  an- 
swered before  the  asking  by  the  expression  given  in  the 
reading,  and  whether  just  like  your  own  does  not  matter 
so  much. 

Correct  expression  must  come,  if  at  all,  from  intelli- 
gent, definite  thought,  producing  a  picture  upon  the 
mental  or  spiritual  sensorium  as  distinct  and  as  readily 
recognized  as  the  features  of  a  familiar  friend.  And  if 
we  would  give  to  language  its  true  value,  and  render  it 
an  efficient  instrument  of  clear,  discriminating  study  and 
thought,  then  must  each  new  word,  as  it  comes  up,  be 
clearly  apprehended.  From  the  first  grade  to  the  last 
must  the  subject  under  consideration  be  made  visible,  as 
it  were,  to  the  young  mind,  that  when  afterward  he  shall 
meet  with  it  in  study  or  familiar  use,  no  dimness  shall 
obscure  the  thought  or  present  it  to  him  in  vague  and 
shadowy  outline. 

Whether  it  be  strictly  true  or  not,  as  Plato  has  it,  that 
all  vision  is  reminiscence,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that, 
if  we  would  trace  back  to  the  origin  of  our  ideas,  the  ele- 
ments of  most  of  our  mental  resources,  we  should  find 
they  came  to  us  through  the  agency  of  sense  and  sensible 
objects.  Small  use  in  speaking  of  ice  to  the  untaught 
dweller  of  the  tropics. 

From  the  object  to  the  word,  from  the  concrete  to  the 


108  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

abstract,  seems  to  be  the  true  order ;  and  as  the  young 
pupil  takes  the  paper,  the  sticks,  the  clay,  the  cube,  the 
sphere,  the  plant,  the  mineral,  handles  them,  feels,  sees, 
examines  them,  before  he  deals  much  in  verbal  definition 
or  long  description,  so  should  it  be,  I  think,  with  much 
of  the  illustrative  apparatus,  mechanical  and  physical,  in 
the  higher  grades. 

Instead  of  bringing  out  the  electrical  machine,  the 
model  engine,  the  manikin,  at  the  close  of  the  week  or 
month,  as  was  the  practice  of  our  old  professors  after  the 
study  of  the  subject  was  completed,  for  the  exhibition  of 
the  professor's  learning  or  his  deftness  in  manipulation, 
they  should  be  accessible  to  the  student  from  the  outset. 
The  valve,  the  piston,  the  coil  should  be  before  him,  be 
in  his  hands,  with  the  book  as  an  assistant,  a  reference. 
What  profit  in  learning  from  the  printed  page  the  de- 
scription of  the  air-pump  by  the  pupil  who  has  never 
seen  its  structure  and  workings  !  Once  and  again  have 
I  seen  a  class  sent  with  biting  censure  to  their  seats 
for  not  defining  what  had  no  shape  or  place  in  their 
minds,  of  which  no  reminiscence  could  assist  the  vision. 

And  withal,  as  a  delicate  perfume,  pervading  the 
whole  life  of  the  school-room,  should  be  the  quiet  but 
firm  spirit  of  persuasive  control ;  first  of  all,  control  of 
self,  which  is  of  itself  a  power  over  others,  giving  that  air 
of  calm  confidence  which  is  of  the  very  essence  of  per- 
suasion. Little  persuasive  power  resides  in  the  fretful, 
worrying  soul. 

"  When  will  you  take  Yicksburg  ?"  was  the  taunting 
rebel  inquiry  of  Grant,  as  he  sat  down,  like  a  double-faced 
Janus,  between  those  two  opposing  armies. 

"  I  shall  take  Vicksburg,  if  it  takes  me  thirty  years," 
was  his  calm,  persuasive  answer. 

A  recent  novel-writer  makes  the  waiting-maid  say  of 


THE  TEACHER  IN  THE  SCHOOL-ROOM.  109 

her  mistress,  "  She  has  an  unfair  advantage  of  me,  for 
she  never  scolds."  The  scolding  teacher  is  often  the  bad 
boy's  sweetest  opportunity,  for  he  can  always  contrive  to 
answer  back,  a  chance  he  dearly  loves  and  persistently 
labors  for. 

There  is,  indeed,  a  worthy  indignation  at  wrong  and 
injustice  ;  but  even  to  this  the  controlled  expression,  soft- 
ened by  sorrow  for  the  untoward  offender,  often  gives  a 
twofold  force  and  leaves  no  cause,  in  ill-advised  words, 
for  long  regret.  The  harsh  and  rasping  tone  has  no  more 
place  in  the  schoolroom  than  in  the  angelic  choir. 

And  not  below  the  teacher's  regard,  but  cementing  the 
very  foundations  of  her  influence,  is  the  cheery  "  Good 
morning";  the  quiet,  grateful  "Thank  you"  for  the 
little  favor  or  polite  attention  ;  the  thoughtful  "Excuse 
me "  for  the  slight  accident  or  some  inadvertency  ;  the 
glad  recognition  of  well-earned  success  and  sincere  regret 
for  failure  ;  and  the  kindly  "  Good-night  "  at  the  school- 
day's  close. 

Far  more  potent  than  the  formal  lecture  or  the  solemn 
homily  are  these  little  graceful  recognitions  of  the  pupils' 
rights  to  respect  and  gentle  courtesy,  and  go  far  toward 
inducing  in  them  those  habits  of  considerate  conduct 
whose  fuller  development  into  active  principles  savors  at 
least  of  morality. 

This  cheerful,  loving  life  that  is  breathing  through 
our  lower  schools  the  cold  critic  and  learned  professor 
may  scoff  at  or  deny.  Safely  ensconced  on  their  stern 
heights,  this  spring- tide  of  warmth  and  sunshine  has  not 
reached  them.  They  look  out  upon  the  firm  rock,  hard 
and  forbidding  as  of  old  ;  the  dwarf  pine  and  scrub  hem- 
lock wear  their  last  winter's  greenness;  adown  the  mount- 
ain sides  the  giant  old  trees,  with  their  withering  foliage 
at  half-mast  over  the  sad  approach  of  civilization,  shut 


HO  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

from  them  the  beauty  of  the  wakened  fields  below,  and 
their  sighing  branches  drown  the  music  of  bursting  buds 
and  the  unfolding  of  tender  leaves  which  shall  ere  long 
fill  our  land  with  health  and  happiness. 

In  the  character  and  conduct  of  the  teacher  is  the 
strength  and  hope  of  the  school ;  and  then  will  our  call- 
ing become  a  profession  when  we  do  professional  work, 
and  our  profession  be  a  noble  one  when  we  do  its  duties 
nobly. 


VII. 

HOW  THE  SCHOOL  DEVELOPS  CHARACTER. 

DIFFER  as  we  may  in  many  matters,  we  are  all  agreed 
in  effect  that  the  one  chief  aim  of  school-life  is  character, 
and  fortunately,  or  unfortunately,  to  this  end,  whether 
we  will  or  not,  we  are  all  and  always  contributing. 

It  is  only  when  we  come  to  the  ways  and  means  for 
the  informing  and  proper  unfolding  of  a  true  character 
that  our  differences  and  discussions  begin,  sometimes 
these  differences  going  down  to  the  very  foundations,  the 
first  principles  of  real  education,  and  again  resolving 
themselves  into  mere  variances  in  the  meaning  and  use  of 
words. 

"We  need  not  look  long  in  Webster  for  the  meaning  of 
character,  one  of  those  terms  understood  by  all,  but  so 
hard  to  define.  The  word,  which  we  have  from  the 
Greeks,  whose  ideal  was  the  perfect  individual,  meant 
first  the  point,  the  graver's  tool ;  then  the  line,  the  dis- 
tinguishing trait,  the  inner  life  of  the  man.  The  Koman, 
on  the  other  hand,  who,  with  his  genius  for  organiza- 
tion, cared  for  the  individual  only  in  his  relations  to  the 


HOW  THE  SCHOOL  DEVELOPS   CHARACTER. 

state,  had  only  the  superficial  term  mores,  habits,  cus- 
toms, those  practices  alone  which  come  within  the  cog- 
nizance of  the  community,  the  state. 

We,  who  unite  in  our  thought  the  individual  with  the 
citizen,  enlarge  our  idea  of  character  to  include  them 
both,  believing  that  the  worthy  citizen  can  not  be  an  un- 
worthy man. 

It  is,  perhaps,  enough  for  us  to  consider  that,  from 
the  very  nature  of  the  case,  all  character  is  mental,  and 
that  all  development  of  character  comes  from  mental 
training,  from  the  reforming  of  the  mind,  and  giving  it 
those  surroundings  that  favor  its  unfolding.  The  dog, 
indeed,  in  a  restricted  sense  may  be  credited  with  a  char- 
acter, may  be  ugly  or  kind,  and  the  horse  gentle  or  vi- 
cious, but  it  is  only  as  intellectual  beings,  capable  of 
growth  and  progress,  that  we  speak  of  the  influence  of 
our  schools  upon  the  formation  of  character. 

From  the  defects  of  language  we  are  often  uncon- 
sciously led  into  the  error  of  separating  in  our  thought 
those  things  that  are  indissolubly  connected,  and  to  talk 
of  character  building  as  something  different  from  the 
training,  the  disciplining  of  the  mind,  and  to  suppose 
that  we  can  labor  worthily  for  the  unfolding  and  uplift- 
ing of  the  personal  character  and  life,  without  that 
knowledge,  that  m-formation  of  the  intellectual  nature 
which  alone  places  us  above  the  brute,  and  makes  us 
worthy  of  a  place  in  the  school-room  in  the  capacity 
either  of  teacher  or  pupil. 

The  intellectual,  industrial,  social,  and  moral  charac- 
ter of  an  individual,  as  we  use  the  terms  in  our  daily 
speech,  are  but  different  phases  of  the  one  and  same  mind 
in  its  workings  and  manifestations,  as  we  speak  of  the 
form,  the  combination,  the  coloring,  and  the  worth  of  a 
painting. 


112  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

We  are  considering  merely  his  knowledge  and  judg- 
ment, his  likes  and  dislikes,  his  sense  of  obligation,  or 
his  power  over  his  material  belongings. 

The  simple  elements  of  character  are,  it  would  seem, 
few  in  number  but  manifold  in  their  combinations  and 
applications,  and  in  some  measure  are  all  early  employed, 
though  the  period  for  the  special  cultivation  and  develop- 
ment of  the  different  powers  is  a  matter  of  the  first  im- 
portance. 

Let  us  consider  for  a  moment  the  early  mental  pro- 
cesses of  the  child.  A  word  is  uttered,  he  places  his  hand 
upon  his  mother's  face.  Simple  sensations  both,  but 
giving  no  information,  no  knowledge.  Again  and  again 
the  tone,  the  touch.  Memory  now  recalls  the  first  sensa- 
tion, notes  the  resemblances,  and  there  follows  the  con- 
scious perception.  He  hears,  perceives  other  sounds  un- 
like the  first,  and  by  imagination  choosing  the  essentials 
of  each,  he  has  now  a  conception  of  sound,  as  we  select 
the  essentials  of  a  leaf,  yet  thinking  of  no  individual  leaf, 
and  we  draw  what  we  call  a  conventional  leaf.  With 
the  conceptions  multiplied,  now  can  he  begin  to  exercise 
his  reason  and  judgment,  begin  to  think  clearly  and  con- 
secutively. 

With  these  powers  in  exercise,  with  their  bright  or 
dark  blossoming,  under  the  influence  of  a  warm  imagina- 
tion, of  likes  and  dislikes,  hopes  and  fears,  and  the  whole 
crowd  of  passions  and  desires,  there  is  little  more  required 
to  make  up  the  life  and  character  of  most  of  us ;  and, 
according  as  they  are  directed  or  controlled  for  wise  or 
unwise  purposes,  is  the  worth  of  our  characters. 

Little  more  is  required,  I  said,  and  yet  there  remains 
the  one  faculty  without  which,  with  all  our  knowledge, 
we  were  little  more,  as  regards  power  and  influence,  than 
the  veriest  puppets  with  which  the  skillful  mechanic  fills 


HOW  THE  SCHOOL  DEVELOPS  CHARACTER.         U3 

the  toy-stores — that  one  almost  divine  element  of  personal 
will  to  grasp  or  gather  up  any  one  or  all  of  these,  and 
wield  them  for  the  accomplishment  of  its  chosen  purpose. 

Nor  is  it  from  text-book  or  rare  and  costly  volume 
that  the  only  or,  it  may  be,  the  richest  lessons  are  to  be 
learned  or  the  mental  powers  trained  to  their  best  or 
highest  efficiency.  Books  are  valued  only  as  they  contain 
the  records  and  examples  of  the  years  that  are  gone,  of 
the  trials  and  successes,  the  efforts  and  the  failures  of  men 
and  women  like  ourselves,  the  legacy  of  their  lives  and 
their  achievements,  their  thoughts  and  their  imaginings. 
From  the  printed  page  alone  are  we  the  heirs  of  the  ages, 
surrounded  by  the  comforts  and  elegances,  and  possessed 
of  the  wisdom  and  the  virtues  of  this  latest  and  greatest 
of  the  centuries. 

How  to  avail  themselves  of  this  rightful  heritage,  and 
take  their  true  places  in  the  forefront  of  the  advancing 
column  of  enlightenment  and  noble  purpose,  is  the  first 
and  still  the  last  of  the  lessons  due  our  pupils,  to  lead 
them  at  first  by  easy  yet  ever  surer  and  more  rapid  steps, 
with  keener  desire  and  more  elastic  tread,  with  nicer  dis- 
cernment and  wider  vision  toward  those  heights  of  trans- 
figuration where  they  may  commune  face  to  face  with 
the  highest  and  the  best. 

Words  should  become  to  them  in  the  well-wrought 
sentence  as  living  things,  each  instinct  with  the  life  of 
the  embodied  thought,  which  should  come  to  them  clear 
and  distinct  in  its  wealth  of  wisdom  or  its  beauty.  Into 
fitly  chosen  and  connected  words,  too,  should  they  learn 
to  breathe  their  own  best  and  worthiest  thought,  making 
their  sentences  the  living  messengers  of  truth  and  min- 
isters to  the  weary  and  needy  heart  of  health  and  happi- 
ness. 

Not  without  its  influence  upon  integrity  of  character 


114  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

and  personal  worthiness  is  this  accuracy  in  the  expression 
of  thought  in  its  delicate  shadings  and  nicer  meanings, 
for  its  utterance  demanding  the  clearness  of  conception 
which  springs  from  the  accurate  perception  of  the  real 
and  the  true  in  nature  and  in  life,  at  which  much  of  the 
teaching  of  the  school  should  aim.  Things  as  they  are, 
in  their  qualities  and  uses,  to  be  found  out  but  by  the 
seeing  and  the  handling,  in  the  doing  and  the  making, 
are  the  alphabet  from  which  the  thought  and  the  feeling 
of  a  Longfellow  or  a  Gladstone  or  even  a  Hegel  are  to 
be  read.  The  pupil  must  know  what  is  true  and  beauti- 
ful ere  the  conception  of  truth  and  beauty  can  dawn  upon 
his  mental  vision,  must  learn  of  the  good  and  the  right 
if  ever  goodness  and  righteousness  shall  be  to  him  more 
than  empty  words. 

The  teachings  of  history,  the  story  of  nations  and  in- 
dividuals, the  lessons  of  causes  and  results,  the  revela- 
tions of  the  material,  the  mental,  and  the  spiritual  world, 
if  rightly  read,  are  as  true  as — are,  indeed,  words  of  sacred 
writ,  and  can  be  studied  with  as  reverent  a  spirit  and 
with  the  probability  of  as  little  error  in  the  translation. 

The  writings  upon  the  rocks  and  the  hierogtyphics  of 
the  heavens  are  as  decipherable  and  as  worthy  of  regard 
as  those  in  the  temples  of  Egypt  or  the  palaces  of  Nine- 
veh. 

He  who  discovers  a  new  truth  or  makes,  a  new  applica- 
tion of  Nature's  forces  for  the  welfare  of  man  has  opened 
a  sacred  volume  and  found  a  new  interpretation  of  a 
hitherto  dark  and  hidden  passage. 

Truths  and  facts  are  not,  of  course,  of  equal  worth, 
and  a  wise  discernment  is  needful  in  separating  the  metal 
from  the  dross,  the  kernel  from  the  chaff,  or  rather  should 
we  learn  to  choose  now  this,  now  that,  as  suited  to  our 
special  purpose.  Without  the  chaff  there  could  be  no 


HOW  THE  SCHOOL  DEVELOPS  CHARACTER.    U5 

berry,  without  the  dross  no  metal.  But  before  us  should 
be  held,  as  a  prime  purpose,  the  cultivation  of  an  intel- 
lectual integrity  as  the  basis  and  condition  of  all  moral 
and  spiritual  worth. 

Without  the  early  perception  of  material  things  there 
can  be  no  worthy  imaginings,  no  sound  reasonings.  The 
mother,  watching  the  smile  of  the  infant  in  the  cradle, 
fondly  deems  that  it  is  dreaming  of  the  angels  ;  but  the 
angel  is  in  the  mother's  heart  alone.  The  child  has  had 
no  perceptions,  no  imaginings,  none  of  "the  stuff  that 
dreams  are  made  of,"  and  an  angel  is  as  far  from  his  pos- 
sibilities as  a  dream  of  Italy  from  the  untaught  Eskimos. 

There  can  be  no  development  or  growth  in  the  mem- 
orized repetition  of  another's  words  ;  no  powers  are  called 
into  action  that  constitute  the  elements  of  character. 
The  phonograph  can  do  as  much  with  the  addition  of 
emphasis  and  intonation. 

Nor  is  it  in  the  desultory,  haphazard  learning  of  un- 
connected facts  that  we  look  for  aught  of  value  in  train- 
ing the  pupil  for  a  life  of  usefulness.  Thought  must  be 
consecutive  to  be  educative,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  coin 
a  needed  word,  must  be  systematic,  logical,  or  the  knowl- 
edge gained  has  no  ^forming  power.  The  knowledge 
that  is  worthy  the  name  of  ^formation  must  give  the 
learner  the  power  and  the  principles  that  shall  enable 
him  to  advance  step  by  step  from  fixed  facts  to  definite 
conclusions,  to  see  things  in  a  clearer,  broader  light,  or 
the  mind  is  not  informed  or  enlightened. 

We  need,  too,  to  place  the  pupils,  as  far  as  possible, 
upon  their  own  responsibility.  The  school  trains  them 
to  punctuality,  order,  system,  and  subordination,  but  too 
often  affords  them  little  opportunity  for  self-control,  self- 
guidance,  and  self-help,  more  important  to  their  well- 
being  than  most  of  the  subjects  taught  from  the  books. 


116  PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

Their  hours  are  arranged,  their  tasks  assigned,  the  ex- 
tent of  their  study  and  reading  marked  out,  with  little 
room  for  any  plan,  any  design,  any  decision  of  their  own 
—any  effort  in  any  self-chosen  work. 

And  when  the  pupil  steps  from  the  graduation  stage, 
in  what  direction  is  he  to  move  ?  To  whom  is  he  to 
look  ?  His  tasks  must  now  be  assigned  by  himself  ;  the 
extent  of  his  efforts  and  the  limits  of  his  labors  deter- 
mined by  his  own  judgment,  with  success  or  defeat  de- 
pendent upon  his  ability  to  discern  and  meet  the  demand 
of  the  hour. 

Hardly  can  we  too  strongly  urge  the  need  of  cultivat- 
ing more  thoroughly  that  self-determining,  self-directing 
power  of  a  free,  firm  will — not  that  form  of  will,  or  rather 
dead  stubbornness,  which  yields  neither  to  persuasion  nor 
argument,  whose  only  power  is  found  in  resistance,  but 
that  faculty  which  can  concentrate  all  needful  energies 
to  the  performance  of  its  choseiuwork. 

I  have  no  faith  in  the  thought  so  often  expressed, 
supported  though  it  be  by  great  names,  that  application 
is  genius  ;  but  it  is  a  grand  element  of  success  and,  with 
a  worthy  aim,  of  usefulness,  in  both  of  which  genius  is 
often  sadly  lacking.  With  all  our  culture  we  do  not 
gather  grapes  of  thorns,  nor  figs  of  thistles,  nor  will  the 
most  plodding  dullard  ever  exhibit  a  spark  of  what  we 
call  genius.  He  breathes  another  atmosphere,  and  leads 
another  life.  His  pathway  may  be  bordered  by  the  daisy 
and  the  dandelion,  and  his  days  be  peace.  Genius  takes 
a  loftier  flight. 

We  should  see  to  it  that  no  narrowing,  belittling 
motive  be  allowed  to  sway  the  minds  and  guide  the  efforts 
of  the  aspiring,  earnest  pupils,  filling  their  young  hearts 
with  a  restless,  feverish  desire  for  some  paltry,  worthless 
bauble  of  relative  rank  or  position,  withering  the  soul, 


HOW  THE  SCHOOL  DEVELOPS  CHARACTER. 

and  ruinous  alike  to  true  scholarship  and  worthy  char- 
acter. 

It  is  the  love  of  good  learning  and  the  best  modes  of 
attaining  it — the  purposes  of  education — that  are  of  more 
worth  than  any  acquirements  of  the  school-room,  besides 
which  the  mere  unintelligent  knowledge  there  gained 
sinks  into  insignificance. 

The  school  at  best  can  give  but  the  beginnings  of  a 
useful  scholarship.  Many  of  the  best  books  are  beyond 
the  appreciation  or  enjoyment  of  school  age,  even  if  there 
were  time  for  more  than  a  sip  at  the  perennial  fountain. 
But  a  direction  toward  the  sources  of  a  true  intellectual 
life  can  be  given,  a  desire  awakened  for  deeper  and  richer 
thoughts,  and  the  spirit  quickened,  which  shall  not  fail 
to  impart  guidance  and  strength  for  the  realization  of 
higher  hopes  and  nobler  characters. 

Nor  should  we  forget  the  physical  part  of  our  natures, 
especially  in  these  later  years,  with  the  strong  tendency 
of  the  richest  life  and  keenest  activities  to  the  cities,  filled 
as  they  are  with  their  offices  and  palace  stores. 

It  has  long  seemed  to  me  a  misfortune  that  during 
all  the  years  of  school-life  our  pupils  could  have  nothing 
of  the  old  farm  and  shop  education  of  our  early  days, 
with  the  variety  of  employment  which  they  gave — could 
have  no  productive  industry. 

Mere  physical  labor,  the  work  of  the  brute,  may  be 
degrading,  but  the  training  of  the  mind  to  a  better  con- 
trol of  the  hand,  the  ennobling  of  labor,  of  the  rule  of 
man  over  material  things,  from  which  spring  so  many  of 
the  blessings  of  our  civilization — that  ballasting  of  our 
thoughts  and  our  otherwise  unstable  imagination  by  the 
substance  and  reality  of  fact — can  not  be  passed  by  with 
a  sneer  and  scornful  smile. 

Hand  in  hand  with  this  intellectual  life,  and  guided 


118  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

by  it,  should  proceed  that  moral  life  and  development 
for  which  from  my  heart  I  believe  that  our  public  schools, 
with  all  their  faults,  are  among  the  most  efficient  agen- 
cies, as  they  afford  to  the  capable  teacher  the  most  favor- 
able opportunities. 

Though  but  a  fraction  of  the  pupil's  time  is  passed 
beneath  the  teacher's  care,  yet  the  influence  of  him  who 
is  called  to  the  care,  the  cure  of  minds  and  hearts,  does 
not  begin  or  end  at  the  tinkling  of  the  bell,  but  reaches 
out  to  the  play-ground,  the  street,  and  into  the  very 
privacy  of  the  home.  The  original  fiber  of  the  mental 
structure  may  not  be  changed  nor  the  prime  elements  of 
character  supplanted. 

It  is  not  character  building  with  which  the  teacher 
has  to  do,  but  rather  character  development  and  training. 
We  are  not  laying  in  this  or  that  brick  or  block  of  marble, 
putting  in  this  or  that  kind  or  quality  of  wood,  but  guid- 
ing and  directing  its  growth,  checking  here  a  vicious 
tendency,  and  here  encouraging  a  striving  for  the  good, 
giving  the  active,  aggressive  powers  a  proper  aim,  and 
gradually  inducing  those  habits  of  thought  and  action, 
that  power  of  self-government  that  shall  make  him  in 
school  and  out  of  school,  and  when  school-days  are  over, 
a  willing  worker  for  good,  trustworthy  in  social  and  busi- 
ness relations,  submissive  to  rightful  authority,  true  to 
his  better  self  and  to  his  neighbor,  and  reverencing  truth, 
wherever  found,  as  the  writing  of  God's  own  finger,  loyal 
ever  and  always  to  the  right. 

Not  by  the  hand  of  stern  repression,  nor  at  the  arbi- 
trary will  and  power  of  superior  force,  is  this  task  to  be 
accomplished,  but  by  the  delicate,  tender  touch  of  a  lov- 
ing, sympathetic  nature,  by  kindly,  thoughtful  control, 
kindness  begetting  trust,  confidence  inducing  truthful- 
ness, patience,  self-control ;  the  graceful  recognition  of 


HOW  THE  SCHOOL  DEVELOPS  CHARACTER.         H9 


worthy  effort  imparting  new  strength  to  righu  impulse, 
and  the  living  example  of  uprightness  and  honorable, 
generous  feeling  and  dealing  awakening  the  slumbering 
nature  to  the  realization  of  a  better,  a  worthier,  a  higher 
life. 

With  all  our  talking  and  teaching  we  do  not  yet  rise, 
I  believe,  to  the  appreciation  of  the  power  for  good  of  a 
kind,  sympathetic,  manly,  womanly,  personal  influence 
— an  understanding  of  what  we  might  be  and  do. 

The  ordinary  child  upon  entering  school  is  apt. to  look 
upon  his  teacher  as  a  superior  being  who  knows  all 
things,  sees  all  things,  and  who  can  direct  her  pupils  to 
all  that  is  desirable ;  as  one  who  abhors  evil  and  loves 
the  good ;  an  embodiment  of  wisdom,  excellence,  and 
strength. 

Happy,  and  thrice  happy,  is  she  who  can  change  these 
fond  illusions  into  a  sincere  love,  a  generous  respect,  and 
a  confiding  trust.  From  his  first  wakening  intelligence 
the  pupil  has  been  seeing,  hearing,  and  handling  some- 
thing new  and  interesting,  has  been  learning  of  his  sur- 
roundings, gaining  the  power  to  perceive,  to  imagine,  to 
think,  and  to  reason ;  and  now  in  the  school  is  he  to  re- 
ceive a  new  impulse,  to  find  his  mental  powers  re-enforced 
by  the  inspiration  of  the  wise  teacher. 

Not  till  he  has  found  his  hopes  defeated,  his  confi- 
dence betrayed,  and  his  idol  broken,  does  he  relapse  into 
the  listless,  sullen  creature  who  makes  teaching  a  trial 
and  life  a  burden. 

We  need  better  to  understand  the  child,  to  put  our- 
selves in  his  place.  He  is  untruthful,  but  is  he  hence- 
forth to  be  distrusted  ?  To  the  young  mind,  I  think, 
untruthfulness  is  not  of  necessity  immoral.  He,  it  may 
be,  has  heard  of  Jack  the  Giant- Killer  and  the  cow  that 
jumped  over  the  moon,  and  listened  to  the  tales  of  Hen 


120  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

Pen,  till  his  whole  nature  is  aroused  to  the  love  of  the 
marvelous  and  the  false. 

What  wonderful  stories  has  he  heard  and  tried  to 
rival !  To  what  untruths  has  he  listened  and  endeavored 
to  surpass  them !  He  has  yet  to  learn,  and  nowhere 
better  than  in  the  school,  the  difference  between  pleasing, 
instructive  fable  and  deceptive,  disreputable  falsehood, 
between  poetic  creation  and  stupid  lying  ;  to  discover  the 
sanctity  of  truth  and  the  virtue  of  generous  integrity  of 
thought  and  action,  to  be  honest,  upright,  wholly  and 
always  reliable. 

He  perhaps  takes  what  is  not  his  own,  sees  what  will 
gratify  his  natural  desires,  and  why  should  he  withhold 
his  hand  ?  How  is  he  to  understand  the  sacredness  of 
property,  that  what  one  has  earned  is  his  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  others,  what  many  who  would  be  regarded  as  phi- 
losophers do  not  admit.  Should  he  be  at  once  branded 
as  a  thief  ? 

He  is  insulted  by  a  companion,  and  raises  his  hand 
for  a  blow.  Why  not,  when  the  grandest  nations,  under 
the  lead  of  the  most  enlightened  statesmen  of  the  age,  do 
the  same,  and  when  he  finds  his  own  teacher  following 
his  wrong-doings  with  sarcasm  or  suspension  ?  Would 
you  send  him  to  the  street  to  associate  with  swearers, 
plunderers,  and  blackguards,  or  try  to  lift  him  to  a 
knowledge  of  honesty  and  a  wise  forbearance  ? 

It  is  worthy  of  a  serious  thought,  fellow-teachers — of 
serious  thought  and  calm  consideration — whether  we  shall 
sink  or  save  him.  That  our  pupils  should  be  orderly  and 
subordinate  is  essential  to  the  well-being  of  the  school  > 
but  that  is  not  its  highest  purpose.  The  school  is  not 
itself  an  end,  but  the  means,  and  the  pleasing  decorum 
of  the  school-room,  if  that  be  all,  is  hardly  worth  the 
pains.  We  wish  the  pupil  himself  to  perceive  the  need 


HOW  THE  SCHOOL  DEVELOPS  CHARACTER. 

and  nature  of  system,  to  acquire  that  power  of  self-con- 
trol and  regard  for  righteous  law  that  shall  become  a  part 
of  his  very  self,  a  prime  element  of  his  character,  to  go 
with  him  from  school  and  enter  into  all  his  life  and  his 
life's  duties  as  a  citizen. 

<  And  for  some  temporary  inattention  or  slight  neglect, 
which  out  of  the  school  would  hardly  be  a  fault  at  all, 
shall  he  be  severely  censured,  placed  in  disgrace  with  his 
mates,  whose  esteem  he  prizes,  robbed  of  his  self-respect  ? 
Shall  he  be  turned  with  his  face  to  the  wall,  or,  perchance, 
thrown  upon  the  street,  still  further  to  follow  the  sight 
of  his  eyes  and  the  devices  of  his  own  untrained  mind  ? 

There  is  at  least  a  suggestion  in  the  old  word 
"mind."  "That  boy  must  be  made  to  mind" — not 
merely  to  obey,  to  submit,  like  the  horse  or  the  ox,  but 
to  mind,  to  bring  his  perception,  his  reason,  his  judg- 
ment into  play,  and  thoughtfully,  cheerfully  bring  him- 
self into  harmony  with  his  position  and  surroundings. 
Perhaps,  too,  in  the  quiet  bearing  of  the  teacher,  in  her 
kind  and  firm  sway,  and  sometimes  charitable  forbear- 
ance, he  has  read  his  first  lesson,  and  seen  the  first  ex- 
ample of  that  wise  and  impartial  rule  that  should  be  the 
fashion  in  the  home,  the  school,  and  the  state. 

How  I  have  sometimes  seen  a  troublesome  pupil 
startled  out  of  his  waywardness  into  a  gentler  mood  be- 
cause the  expected  rebuke  did  not  come  nor  the  imagined 
blow  fall !  Confidence,  too,  begets  confidence,  and  an 
apparent  belief  in  his  more  wholesome  desires  is  the  best 
promoter  of  their  development. 

Few  are  the  pupils  who  will  willingly  offend  one  for 
whom  they  are  accustomed  to  do  the  little  favors  and 
acts  of  kindness  whose  thankful  reception  implies  a  con- 
scious trust  in  their  generous  intent.  Compelled  obedi- 
ence may  do  for  the  ox,  but  for  the  conduct  of  life  must 


122  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

be  laid  the  deeper  foundations  of  a  thoughtful  regard  for 
the  right,  cemented  by  the  habit  of  a  calm,  conscious 
self-control. 

To  the  well-established,  experienced  incumbent  of  a 
position  this  order  and  systematic  action  in  the  school 
should  be  one  of  the  least  of  the  difficulties  of  the  day. 
It  is  the  temporary  teacher,  the  substitute,  who  deserves 
our  sympathy  and  kindly  estimate  of  her  efforts.  But 
the  regular  teacher,  who  after  months  or  years  still  finds 
her  pupils  disorderly,  restless,  and  idle,  and  is  compelled 
often  to  resort  to  the  principal  for  aid,  may  well  ask  her- 
self whether  her  powers  might  not  better  be  employed  in 
some  other  pursuit.  She  should  have  secured,  on  the 
part  of  her  pupils,  such  a  habit  of  orderly  industry,  such 
an  appreciation  of  its  benefits,  such  loyalty  to  herself, 
and  such  love  of  the  right,  that  they  would  themselves 
frown  down  the  lawless  attempts  of  any  new-comer.  The 
government,  the  discipline  of  the  room  should  have  ceased 
to  be  the  subject  of  anxious  thought,  and  her  undivided 
attention  be  given  to  the  real  work  of  the  school,  to  en- 
livening their  tasks,  encouraging  despondency,  guiding 
their  earnest  efforts,  and  perhaps  restraining  any  undue 
ambition.  For  checking  any  thoughtless  act,  a  word,  or 
even  a  look  of  surprise,  should  be  all  sufficient. 

Nothing  worthy  the  name  of  character,  I  think,  has 
been  induced  till,  in  the  chance  absence  of  the  teacher, 
the  pupils  of  their  own  accord  shall  fall  to  their  places 
and  their  allotted  work  at  the  appointed  time. 

The  old-time  topics  of  whispering  and  tardiness  should 
give  place  with  the  experienced  teacher  to  questions  bear- 
ing more  directly  upon  their  mental  growth ;  how  to 
present  the  subjects  more  clearly,  how  to  direct  them  to 
better  sources  of  information,  and  how  wisely  sometimes 
to  impart  the  needed  knowledge  with  the  best  results ; 


HOW  THE  SCHOOL  DEVELOPS  CHARACTER.    123 

to  showing  the  bearing  of  their  present  studies  upon  their 
future  well-being,  and  how  to  place  herself  in  such  rela- 
tions with  them  that  even  her  unconscious  bearing  shall 
be  to  them  lessons  and  illustrations  of  uprightness  ever 
more  effective  than  the  stated  lecture  or  formal  lesson, 
and  without  which  the  best  of  these  are  worse  than  worth- 
less. 

Closely  allied  with  order  and  system,  and  perhaps 
their  surest  basis,  is  the  habit  of  quiet,  earnest  industry. 

The  American  boy — or  girl,  for  that — who  is  worth 
the  care  of  looking  after,  is  active,  alert,  curious,  and 
inventive,  with  a  desire  to  see  and  do.  He  is  eager  to 
know  somewhat  of  his  surroundings,  quick  to  perceive 
what  is  of  interest,  ever  inquiring  into  the  reasons,  the 
causes  of  things  and  customs ;  and  it  is  for  the  teacher 
to  avail  herself  of  these  currents  of  life,  and  turn  them 
into  useful  channels,  to  give  these  young  minds  problems 
of  true  interest  to  solve,  and  to  put  them  upon  the  path 
of  progress.  Their  energies  can  not  and  should  not  be 
repressed,  but  the  teacher  in  full  sympathy  with  their 
wants  and  needs  should  be  able  and  willing  so  to  guide 
their  outreach  ing  thought  as  to  convert  their  active 
powers  into  abiding  motives  to  successful  work. 

The  activity  that  is  not  thus  guided  must  ever  prove 
a  disturbing  element,  and  the  best  and  most  promising 
pupils  become  the  source  of  confusion  and  discourage- 
ment. They  should  learn  that  success  is  not  of  chance, 
that  all  true  excellence  is  the  result  of  right  effort,  that 
work  well  directed  wins,  and  that  industry  is  the  only 
sesame  to  material  or  spiritual  wealth. 

No  one  without  a  purpose  in  life  can  be  happy,  no 
one  without  effort  a  success,  and  in  the  thoughtful,  well- 
directed  effort  of  the  pupil  to  the  attainment  of  some 
desirable  result  is  found  the  truest  promise  of  a  worthy 


124:  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

character — a  character  guarded  against  outward  assault, 
and  strong  in  a  well-defined  purpose  of  future  good. 

Especially  in  its  social  relations  does  the  school  offer 
a  fruitful  field  for  the  development  of  much  that  is  best 
in  character,  which  the  wise  teacher  can  ill  afford  to 
ignore.  Indeed,  only  in  its  social  relations  do  many  of 
the  most  important  questions  present  themselves  to  the 
teacher's  attention.  It  is  only  from  the  associated  num- 
bers in  the  school-room  that  the  subject  of  truth  and 
honor  comes  under  the  teacher's  notice,  that  integrity 
and  uprightness  can  be  cultivated  and  deeply  rooted  in 
the  very  nature  of  the  pupil,  that  a  right  impulse  can  be 
given  to  manly  courtesy,  to  womanly  grace,  and  to  mu- 
tual consideration  and  respect,  the  sturdier  strength  of 
the  boy  more  truly  attempered  with  kindness  and  justice, 
and  the  finer  fiber  of  the  girl  unconsciously  annealed  to 
a  more  ductile  grace  and  more  healthful  sympathies. 

We  often  complain,  and  justly,  of  the  number  of 
pupils  to  a  teacher,  and  probably  with  eight  or  ten  pupils 
in  a  class  a  more  rapid  progress  might  be  secured  in  the 
studies  of  the  school-room ;  but  for  the  growth  and  de- 
velopment of  all  that  is  valuable  in  character,  better  sixty 
pupils  under  the  sympathetic  sway  of  the  capable  teacher 
than  the  paltry  dozen  of  pampered  pets  and  petted  pup- 
pets of  the  exclusive  and  high-priced  private  school. 

Here  in  the  full  room  do  we  find  a  reason  for  the  sub- 
dued quiet  and  order,  without  which  close  study  is  im- 
possible and  hope  of  progress  vain.  Here,  too,  the  neces- 
sity for  a  controlling  power,  a  single  head,  some  sufficient 
authority,  not  merely  to  restrain  and  quell  the  restless 
and  the  wayward,  but  to  secure  the  earnest  and  studious 
from  unintentional  interruption  or  interference ;  and 
here,  too,  we  learn  that  mutual  and  willing  concession  is 
the  only  security  for  the  most  valued  rights  of  all.  And 


HOW  THE  SCHOOL  DEVELOPS  CHARACTER.         125 

here  the  children  of  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  foreign 
born  and  the  descendants  of  colonial  Puritan  or  Cavalier, 
meet  upon  a  common  ground,  the  heir  to  lordly  wealth 
often  surpassed  in  strength  and  keenness  of  intellect  by 
the  child  of  poverty  and  toil. 

What  basis  is  here  found  upon  which  to  build  the 
barriers  of  caste  and  class  ?  What  better  school  for  the 
practical  study  of  civics,  for  shaping  the  character  of  the 
child  for  all  the  duties  of  a  worthy,  intelligent  citizen- 
ship, knowing  his  own  rights  and  regardful  of  the  rights 
of  others,  and  wisely  mindful  of  both  ? 

With  a  due  recognition  of  the  rights  of  his  fellows, 
loyal  ever  to  well-regulated  authority,  with  his  powers 
developed  and  trained,  may  we  not  hope  for  our  pupils  a 
citizenship  more  useful  to  the  state  than  was  found 
among  the  stern  Romans,  and  a  better  development  of 
individual  worth  than  Grecian  philosophy  ever  sought  or 
found  ?  Have  we  not  the  elements  of  a  public  and  pri- 
vate morality  worthy  of  the  respect  and  support  of  every 
lover  of  his  kind  ?  The  formal,  unmeaning,  unexplained 
reading  of  a  few  disconnected  verses  of  the  Bible  may  be 
omitted.  But  are  there  not  still  the  home,  the  church, 
the  parent,  the  pastor,  the  Sunday-school  ?  "  Without 
note  or  comment "  itself  suggests  to  the  thoughtful  pupil 
some  hidden  danger,  against  which  the  teacher  is  an 
unsafe  guide. 

The  religious  household  still  has  its  morning  devotions, 
after  which  one  child  goes  to  the  store  or  the  office,  and 
another  to  the  quiet,  orderly  school-room,  strengthened 
in  the  one  case  as  the  other,  we  trust,  by  the  morning 
consecration. 

If  we  read  the  names  of  those  who  have  gone  out  from 
our  schools,  we  do  not  find  them  duplicated  upon  the 
registers  of  houses  of  correction  and  of  prisons. 


126  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

The  Canadian  shore  may  be  fringed  with  those  who, 
in  their  haste  to  be  rich,  have  been  faithless  to  their 
trusts  ;  but  these  were  educated  in  Christian,  in  sectarian 
colleges  or  schools  where  the  Scriptures  were  read  and 
prayers  repeated. 

Not  yet  in  the  busy  ranks  of  life  are  there  many  to 
whom  the  Bible  was  an  unread  book  in  school. 

The  Bible  to  be  useful  must  be  read  more  thought- 
fully, more  intelligently,  and  not  tossed  aside  without  a 
word  or  look  of  gratitude.  As  an  influence  upon  the 
school,  if  experience  does  not  belie  the  fact,  the  morning 
song  or  hymn,  with  its  sweet  and  tender  sentiment  up- 
borne by  the  glad  concord  of  happy  voices,  is  far  more 
effective  in  attuning  the  heart  and  preparing  the  thought 
for  the  cheerful  and  successful  performance  of  daily  duty 
than  the  bare  and  barren  reading  of  a  few  detached,  dis- 
connected verses  of  even  Holy  Writ,  and,  I  believe,  lifts 
the  soul  nearer  heaven. 

As  all  roads  lead  to  Rome,  so  from  whatever  point  or 
on  what  line  soever  I  proceed  my  thought  always  brings 
me  at  last  to  the  teacher,  on  whose  fitness  and  fidelity 
the  efficiency  of  all  these  forces  depends. 

First  of  her  qualifications  is  that  wholesome  personal 
influence,  still  unexplained  by  the  philosopher,  but  read 
by  the  veriest  child — that  something  which  embraces  the 
will  of  the  new-comer,  makes  it  subservient  to  her  desire, 
and  leads  him  unconsciously  along  the  path  of  duty,  and 
brings  him  into  harmomy  with  the  conditions  of  the 
school-room.  It  inspires  him  with  a  self-respect  and 
pride  in  his  school,  and  encourages  him  to  the  perform- 
ance of  otherwise  irksome  tasks,  instead  of  turning  him 
back  by  a  cold  and  formal  dignity  tb  the  street  or  the 
saloon. 

His  passions  and  desires,  which  form,  as  it  were,  the 


HOW  THE  SCHOOL  DEVELOPS  CHARACTER. 

skirmish  line  to  the  advancing  column  of  learning  and 
enlightenment,  instead  of  leading  him  into  the  swamps 
of  depression  and  sloughs  of  vice  and  despondency,  under 
her  wise  and  firm  control  are  to  lead  the  way  over  all  the 
dangers  and  difficulties  of  life's  march  to  assured  and 
well-earned  victory,  when  the  better  emotions  and  truer 
sentiments  may  partake  with  real  pleasure  of  the  fruits 
of  deserved  success. 

Under  her  guidance  labor  becomes  a  pleasure,  and  the 
irksomeness  of  restraint  takes  on  the  garb  of  joyous  com- 
pliance with  the  wishes  of  a  trusted  guide.  Harshness 
and  severity  are  unknown,  because  unueeded ;  censure 
has  changed  to  loved  counsel ;  and  willing,  earnest  effort, 
little  by  little,  takes  the  place  of  forced  and  unfruitful 
toil. 

The  teacher  alone  can  breathe  life  into  the  exercises 
of  the  school  and  make  effective  all  these  means  of  cult- 
ure and  growth.  Nor  can  she  lay  off  the  load  of  responsi- 
bility. From  the  moment  she  enters  the  school-room — 
even  before  she  enters — her  influence  is  a  power  for  good 
or  evil  to  each  and  every  one  of  the  boys  and  girls  in- 
trusted to  her  care,  and  no  moral  precepts  can  be  so 
efficient  as  her  own  conduct  and  bearing.  Whether  list- 
less or  alert,  faithful  or  careless,  truthful  or  forgetful  of 
the  right,  she  is  still  making  or  marring  the  life  of 
them  all. 

The  influence  of  a  promise  unperformed  or  an  unexe- 
cuted threat  no  teaching  can  undo.  A  calm  confidence 
under  seeming  defeat,  a  living  hope  amid  all  discourage- 
ments, and  an  unfailing  charity  in  the  face  of  apparent, 
of  real  guilt,  should  be  in  large  store  in  her  outfit. 

Fellow-teachers,  if  these  words  of  mine  are  of  any 
worth,  it  is  because  they  are  not  the  product  of  vain 
imaginings,  but  have  come  from  long  observation  and 


128  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOB  TEACHERS. 

experience.  The  demands  made  upon  the  teacher  may 
be  great,  but  the  ideals  upon  which  they  are  based  are 
within  easy  reach.  Any  day  of  the  school  year  a  half- 
hour's  or  an  hour's  ride  will  take  me  into  the  presence 
of  those  from  whom  my  pictures  have  been  drawn.  My 
ideal  is  a  present  reality,  and  the  realization  of  this  ideal 
in  our  own  schools  has  but  strengthened  and  confirmed 
my  belief  in  the  ever-increasing  efficiency  of  the  public 
school  as  one  of  the  means  for  the  training  of  our  boys 
and  girls  in  the  development  of  worthy  characters. 


VIII. 
THE  CLASS  RECITATION. 

WHETHER  we  regard  the  prime  purpose  of  the  school 
as  mental  or  moral  instruction  and  discipline,  the  forma- 
tion of  character,  or  the  manual  skill  that  shall  aid  in 
securing  a  comfortable  livelihood,  the  recitation  is  that 
about  which  center  all  the  activities  of  school-life,  giving 
it  success  or  stamping  it  with  failure. 

The  personal  influence  of  the  teacher  is  of  the  first 
importance  ;  the  power  to  control  and  direct,  invaluable; 
the  magnetism  which  shall  inspire  and  incite  to  earnest, 
loving  effort,  a  necessity  to  the  accomplished,  successful 
teacher ;  but  all  of  these  qualifications  find  full  scope  in 
the  recitation,  and,  without  this  end,  they  have  little 
cause  or  reason  to  be. 

The  recitation  is  the  controlling  influence,  determin- 
ing the  length  and  character  of  the  lessons,  the  manner 
of  their  preparation,  the  conduct  of  the  pupil,  his  hours 
of  study,  his  interest  in  school,  and  his  regard  for  his 


THE  CLASS  RECITATION.  129 

teacher,  and  gives  the  color,  the  value,  to  all  his  school- 
days, his  waking  and  his  sleeping  hours. 

It  is  the  recitation,  with  its  direct  or  indirect  in- 
fluences, which  makes  him  a  trusty  friend  or  a  hopeless 
truant,  a  student  or  a  scamp,  and  which  will  guide  him 
along  the  paths  of  honest  and  successful  industry,  or  into 
the  by-ways  of  indolence  and  worthlessness. 

Here  he  finds  the  rewards  of  well-doing  or  the  con- 
demnation of  his  negligence  ;  an  incitement  to  renewed 
effort  or  an  excuse  for  feeble  exertion  and  lax  endeavor. 

In  the  recitation,  too,  the  teacher  gives  proof  of  her  call- 
ing or  shows  her  unfitness  for  her  position.  In  the  reci- 
tation is  concentrated  the  devotion,  the  thought,  the  life 
of  the  teacher,  and  the  work,  the  purpose,  the  zeal,  and 
the  performance  of  the  pupil.  Here  is  displayed  the  life 
of  the  school,  and  here  is  decided  whether  the  school 
shall  be  a  means  of  growth  and  development  or  a  source 
of  unworthy  motive,  of  false  aims  and  ignoble  character. 

There  is  a  common  and  flippant  charge  made  against 
the  public  graded  school,  that  the  individual  is  neglected, 
that  all  are  recklessly  run  through  the  same  mill,  with- 
out regard  to  the  personal  peculiarities  of  the  pupil  or  to 
the  purpose  of  his  life ;  that  the  alert  and  the  sluggish 
mind  receive  the  same  stupefying  potions — that  to  the 
future  senator  and  the  incipient  slugger  are  administered 
the  same  dull  and  dismal  doses  of  dreary  didactics  and 
deadening  discourses. 

But  the  intelligent  teacher  soon  discerns  the  differ- 
ences of  character  and  disposition,  and  distinguishes  the 
slow  and  logical  thinker  from  the  ready,  but  unreasoning 
reciter ;  the  cultured  heir  to  wealth  and  winning  ways 
from  the  child  of  sturdy  toil  and  untrained  manners ; 
and  adjusts  herself  and  her  instructions  to  the  equally 
imperative,  but  differing  needs  of  each. 
10 


130  PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

And  in  the  varying  characters  and  contrasted  thought 
of  each  may  the  other  derive  a  knowledge  of  society  and 
real  life  which  shall  fit  him  for  the  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities of  his  after  -  calling  that  no  exclusive  training 
could  impart.  Not  because  they  are  in  the  same  class  or 
grade  do  they  receive  the  same  impressions  or  benefits,  or 
learn  the  same  lessons  of  science,  of  truthfulness,  of  right. 

One  acquires  the  love  of  learning  and  the  principles 
which  shall  urge  him  onward  to  assured  success,  while 
the  other  simply  tastes  of  the  cup  that  shall  cheer  his 
idle  hours  and  give  him  higher  thoughts  of  humanity 
and  life.  One  is  awakened  to  the  full  use  of  his  powers 
in  the  grand  struggle  of  existence,  which  shall  bring  him 
a  glad  fruition  ;  the  other  merely  finds  an  adornment  of 
his  leisure  hours,  a  pleasing  resource  from  the  weary 
demands  upon  his  time  and  attention. 

To  the  one,  his  study  becomes  an  important  part  of 
his  life  work,  while  to  the  other,  his  acquisitions  are  but 
a  grateful  relief  from  perplexing  and  troublous  cares, 
To  one  the  recitation  is  an  inspiring  duty ;  to  another, 
a  wearisome  task,  or  perchance,  a  diversion. 

Notwithstanding  the  pleasing  picture,  so  often  drawn, 
of  Garfield  and  Dr.  Hopkins  upon  their  log,  it  somehow 
happens  that  our  pupils  are  not  all  Garfields,  and  it  may 
perhaps  with  equal  safety  be  admitted  that  we  are  not  all 
Hopkinses.  And,  however  useful  a  proper  amount  of 
such  familiar  intercourse  might  prove — and  the  rela- 
tion of  teacher  and  pupil  should,  I  think,  contain  the 
possibility  of  this  intimate  converse — yet  for  the  common 
instruction  of  the  school,  I  confess,  for  myself,  a  firm 
and  abiding  faith  in  the  power  of  class-teaching. 

"We  do  not  all  grow  into  the  same  likeness  of  form  or 
feature  by  sitting  at  the  same  table  and  supplying  our 
daily  wants  from  the  same  bill  of  fare* 


THE   CLASS  RECITATION.  131 

In  the  college  and  university,  with  more  mature 
minds  and  more  definite  purposes  of  life,  with  habits  of 
thought  and  investigation  already  formed,  the  literary 
or  philosophic  lecture  or  the  scientific  dissertation 
may  fulfill  their  purpose,  but  in  the  public  school, 
including  the  high-school,  the  skill  and  power  of  the 
teacher  find  their  best  expression  in  the  well-conducted 
recitation. 

In  the  right  recitation  should  be  sought,  and  by 
some  means  secured,  the  close  and  fixed  attention  of 
each  and  every  pupil.  To  it  he  should  come  as  a  seeker, 
a  discoverer  of  hidden  treasure.  Every  power  should  be 
awake,  the  interest  aroused,  to  get  some  clew  to  assist 
him  in  his  future  search,  some  data  to  verify  the  conclu- 
sions of  his  own  efforts.  He  should  be  on  the  alert  to 
perceive  any  wrong  statement,  to  note  any  undue  color- 
ing, and  be  ready  to  correct  the  false  deduction  and 
refute  the  empty  argument  by  a  clear  presentation  of 
real  or  supposed  truth.  The  recitation  of  one  should  be 
the  recitation  of  all,  and  thus  class  instruction  become 
truly  individual  instruction,  with  the  added  interest  and 
power  that  can  come  only  from  contact  of  mind  with 
mind. 

The  pupil  who  merely  rises  and  repeats  with  close 
fidelity  the  words  of  the  book  has  done  nothing  but 
exhibit  an  exercise  of  the  memory,  a  power  not  to  be 
despised,  but  lamented  here,  as  so  far  short  of  the  aim  of 
the  recitation.  This  power  of  memory  is  one  of  inesti- 
mable value,  this  power  to  repeat  with  strict  accuracy 
the  words  of  an  author ;  a  power  fitted  to  hold  in  its 
fast  and  fond  embrace  the  immortal  words  and  sentences 
which  spring  only  from  inspired  hearts  and  minds,  and 
should  not  be  wasted  upon  the  frivolous  and  belittling 
lines  so  often  found  upon  the  pages  of  our  educational 


132  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

papers  ;  too  grand  a  power  for  a  trifling  triplet  of  words, 
or  for  the  paltry  passages  of  unimportant  history. 

The  teacher  greatly  underrates  his  opportunities  and 
mistakes  his  calling  who  simply  puts  forth  his  questions 
and  signifies  his  assent  or  dissent  to  the  correctness  of 
the  recital  with  an  accompanying  mark  of  merit  or 
demerit. 

A  very  ordinary  text-book  can  do  all  that  for  the 
boys  and  girls,  and  much  more.  They  are  there  to  be 
taught,  to  be  directed,  to  be  encouraged,  inspired  to  the 
prosecution  of  their  purpose,  and  the  dull,  dead  "not 
correct,"  with  no  indication  of  the  nature  of  the  error, 
no  suggestion,  falls  like  a  blow  upon  the  defenseless  head 
of  a  young  ambition  that  might  have  been  guided  to  a 
worthy,  useful  life. 

This  recitation  is  much  more  than  a  test  of  the  pupil's 
memory ;  he  is  to  be  taught  to  think,  to  consider  the 
reasons  for  or  against  the  statements  of  the  book  or  the 
teacher,  and  clearly  and  thoughtfully  express  his  views. 
He  may  be  all  wrong  in  his  conclusions,  and  yet  show  a 
strength,  a  power  of  reasoning  and  statement  fairly  en- 
titling him  to  a  high  rank  as  a  student.  His  knowledge 
may  be  insufficient,  his  data  incorrect,  but  his  deductions 
from  his  premises  conclusive. 

The  clear  and  correct  expression  of  his  opinions  and 
judgments  is  to  be  encouraged  as  an  important  part  of 
the  recitation.  I  recollect  how,  in  the  old  days — and 
some  of  the  old  fellows,  I  fear,  still  live — when  we  vent- 
ured to  essay  our  unfledged  wings  in  feeble  flight,  we 
were  brought  up  standing  with  the  supposed  unanswer- 
able remark,  that  "  It  was  written  by  Dr.  So  and  So,  and 
it  was  hardly  worth  while  to  try  to  improve  upon  his  lan- 
guage." And,  perhaps,  the  eminent  doctor,  too,  was  but 
repeating  the  words  of  some  preceding  eminent  dullard. 


THE  CLASS  RECITATION.  133 

True  thought  is  more  than  compiling  facts,  and  the 
correct  expression  of  that  thought  in  well  chosen  words 
and  molded  phrase  and  sentence  better  than  glib  re- 
cital ;  and  whether  the  pupil  agrees  with  the  author 
should  cut  a  small  figure  in  determining  the  worth  of 
his  recitation. 

The  worth  of  the  recitation  who  shall  tell  ?  What 
does  it  show  of  the  power  of  application  acquired  ;  of  the 
careful  analysis,  the  thoughtful  inves'tigation  ?  Has  he 
a  firm  grasp  of  the  subject,  any  correct  principles  to  aid 
him  hereafter,  any  living  idea  that  is  to  germinate  and 
develop  into  anything  of  worth  in  forming  his  mind  or 
heart  ? 

And  the  mark  which  he  shall  secure,  the  penciled 
record  of  his  worth  ?  Oh  !  the  blight  of  this  marking 
upon  all  true  scholarship  and  healthful  growth  !  blight- 
ing alike  to  teacher  and  pupil — presenting  to  the  pupil 
unworthy  and  dwarfing  motives,  and  barring  the  teacher 
from  his  proud  privilege  of  instructing  and  molding  the 
character  and  life,  and  reducing  him  to  the  low  level  of 
the  billiard-marker. 

Not  for  a  mark  is  the  recitation  held  ;  but  to  give  a 
new  impulse,  to  point  the  way  to  more  assured  success. 
But  this  fixed  attention,  this  keen  thought  and  close 
reasoning,  however  secured  and  however  pleasing  and 
inspiring  it  may  be,  is  work,  and  the  stronger  the  mag- 
netic force  the  more  exhaustive  the  effort.  Mental  ex- 
ertion, too,  like  physical,  has  its  limits. 

An  hour  of  true  recitation,  discussing  topics  of  inter- 
est, giving  the  arguments  pro  and  con,  enlivening  the 
dry  statement  with  lively  illustration,  should  have  had 
quite  as  much  time  for  preparation.  No  student  should 
come  to  the  recitation,  to  the  elaboration  of  a  subject  in 
history,  literature,  mathematics,  or  science,  who  has  not 


134:  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

had  the  time  to  examine  the  matter  thoroughly  and,  to 
his  ability,  exhaustively. 

A  limit  then  is  set  to  the  work  of  the  school.  I  re- 
cently looked  over  the  course  of  study  of  a  large  city, 
in  which  twenty-one  hours  of  the  twenty-five  was  pre- 
scribed as  the  minimum  amount  of  time  for  recitation  for 
the  week. 

Why  do  our  pupils  spend  so  many  years  over  their 
arithmetics  and  geographies  without  getting  into  them  ? 
Isn't  it  a  greater  wonder  that  so  many  of  them  stay  with 
us  all  these  years  ? 

My  fellow-teachers,  let  us  not  willingly  blind  our- 
selves to  the  truth.  Our  pupils  in  the  cities  have  too 
much  school.  From  six  years  of  age  to  ten,  twelve,  or 
eighteen,  according  to  their  endurance,  they  go  to  school, 
till  they  weary  of  the  very  name  of  school — generally  by 
the  time  they  reach  the  age  of  ten  or  twelve — and  entreat 
their  parents  to  let  them  do  something. 

Three  hours  a  day  of  recitation  should  surely  be 
enough  for  any  pupil  in  the  grammar  grades — it  is  all  the 
colleges  demand  ;  nor  need  the  high-schools  require  more. 

We  stultify  our  pupils  by  asking  of  them  more  than  a 
bright,  earnest  boy  or  girl  can  safely  perform,  and  stand 
amazed  at  the  result. 

We  absorb  all  the  time  in  recitation,  and  devote  it 
largely  to  dawdling  listlessness,  leaving  little  time  for 
good,  close,  personal  effort  in  fruitful  study.  Is  this 
overdrawn  ? 

And  what  of  the  teacher  who  is  to  secure  this  atten- 
tion, ever  alert,  watchful,  patient,  courteous  alike  to  pu- 
pil and  parent  ? 

Even  the  post  of  teacher  in  the  common  school,  though 
she  be  of  sound  lungs,  of  digestion  unimpaired,  with  the 
ruddy  glow  of  youth  still  undimmed,  is  no  sinecure. 


THE  CLASS  RECITATION.  135 

In  the  early  grades,  before  the  little  ones  can  study 
by  themselves,  save  in  some  little  diversion,  some  busy 
work  with  objects,  the  recitation  is  not,  in  any  true 
sense,  a  recitation,  but  an  exercise,  which  should  be 
brief,  bright,  and  interesting.  Five  or  ten  minutes  will 
be  enough  for  the  little  work,  speedily  to  be  repeated. 

And  in  the  higher  primary  grades  no  lessons  should 
be  assigned,  I  think,  for  home  study.  The  confinement 
of  the  school-hours  is  enough,  and  the  leisure  time  out  of 
school  should  be  employed  in  developing  their  physical 
nature,  in  becoming  familiar  with  their  surroundings,  in 
learning  something  of  life,  of  nature,  and  in  searching 
out  the  hidden,  the  mysterious  meaning  of  the  thousand 
things  around  them. 

In  the  grammar  grades,  too,  at  least  one  half,  or  in 
the  higher  classes,  one  third,  of  the  school-hours  should 
be  left  for  study.  No  lessons  for  home  study  in  the 
primary  grades  should  be  possible,  and  in  the  grammar 
and  high  school  grades  very  little  should  be  assigned  for 
preparation  out  of  school.  Give  the  little  fourth  grader 
a  book  to  read,  if  you  will,  a  book  that  he  can  not  help 
reading,  that  he  will  want  to  read  aloud  to  his  parents ; 
but  not  a  spelling-lesson  to  be  learned,  to  be  written  ten 
times ;  a  page  of  history  to  memorize ;  some  puzzling 
problems  to  solve ;  or  composition  to  be  written  by  his 
parents  or  older  sisters. 

The  lessons  should,  for  the  most  part,  be  prepared  in 
school.  The  hours,  before  and  after  school,  are  little 
enough  for  healthful  growth,  for  becoming  acquainted 
with  the  inner  and  the  outer  duties  of  home  and  real 
life,  and  for  that  knowledge  above  and  beyond  all  school 
instruction,  which  every  boy  who  is  a  boy  must  have, 
and  for  which  many  a  girl  might  barter  much  of  her 
acquirements  in  music  and  drawing. 


136  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

The  teacher  who  allows  the  pupil,  after  answering  a 
question  or  two,  to  turn  to  some  other  pursuit  may  not 
be  wholly  wrong ;  she  leaves  some  time  for  study,  but 
she  greatly  discounts  her  own  power  and  influence,  and 
sinks  herself  into  a  very  insignificant  factor  of  the  real 
school-life. 

The  pupil  should  have  his  close,  strict,  and  accurate 
recitation,  but  should  also  have  in  school  -  hours  the 
time  and  the  opportunity  for  preparing  himself  for  the 
proper  presentation  of  the  assigned  subject  for  the  day 
and  the  hour  of  recitation.  There  can  be  no  true  per- 
formance without  due  preparation. 

Closely  connected  with  this  home  study  is  associated 
in  my  mind  another  practice,  once  so  common,  and 
which  can  hardly  be  too  strongly  condemned.  I  mean 
the  practice  of  keeping  after  school,  formerly  the  reserve 
force  of  so  many  a  teacher,  and  one  of  the  greatest  wrongs 
in  the  schools  of  to-day,  doing  more  to  hinder  progress, 
to  deaden  interest,  to  dwarf  ambition,  and  cause  a  dis- 
taste, a  hatred  of  school,  school  duties,  and  school  privi- 
leges, than  all  other  influences  combined. 

Keeping  after  school  fails,  and  must  fail,  to  promote 
good  conduct,  to  secure  well-prepared  lessons,  to  incite 
ambition,  to  awaken  exertion,  or  encourage  good  attend- 
ance. The  results  are,  in  my  judgment,  like  the  early 
thoughts  of  the  sons  of  men,  evil  and  only  evil  continu- 
ally. 

I  sometimes  wish  I  had  the  gift  to  express,  in  a  way 
to  be  fully  understood,  my  utter  abhorrence  of  this  prac- 
tice of  keeping  after  school.  Never  have  I  known  of  a 
pupil  renewed,  reformed,  reclaimed,  or  reconciled  to  his 
surroundings  by  being  kept  after  school,  by  making  edu- 
cation a  punishment — that  first  resource  of  the  incom- 
petent teacher. 


THE  CLASS  RECITATION,  137 

By  some  chance,  or  mischance,  he  comes  in  five  min- 
utes late — "  Fifteen  minutes  after  school."  He  stumbles 
in  hurrying  to  his  seat — "Remain  after  school."  He 
makes  a  mistake  in  recitation — "  Make  it  up  after 
school."  He  whispers,  winks  with  one  eye — "  Stay  after 
school."  He  asks  to  leave  the  room — "Twenty  min- 
utes after  school."  He  fails  to  respond  to  a  querulous 
or  sarcastic  question — "  I  will  see  you  after  school." 
And  if  he  ever  succeeds  in  any  business  or  calling,  or 
has  any  interest  or  happiness  in  life,  it  will  assuredly  be" 
after  school,  school  methods,  and  school  ma'ams  have 
gone  by. 

If  the  room  can  not  be  controlled,  why  prolong  the 
agony  after  teacher  and  pupil  should  have  been  relieved 
of  the  unwholesome  air  and  vicious  influences  of  wreary 
hours  and  unrestrained  disorder  ?  If  the  lessons  are  un- 
prepared, quicken  the  ambition  and  revive  the  spirit  of 
improvement  and  useful  acquisition  by  some  curious  in- 
quiry, some  ingenious  device,  and  by  prompt  and  pleas- 
ant dismissal,  with  an  inspiring  "  good-night,"  but  do 
not  look  for  a  renewed  love  of  learning  and  a  higher  re- 
spect for  authority  from  this  ruinous  resort  of  the  incom- 
petent, keeping  after  school. 

To  secure  this  close,  untiring  attention — the  first 
essential  of  a  successful  recitation — there  must  be  in  the 
mind  of  the  teacher  a  clear  and  well-defined  conception 
of  what  is  to  be  done,  the  points  to  be  gained,  and  the 
conclusions  to  be  reached,  so  that  ambition  may  not  be 
dulled  and  curiosity  extinguished  by  misdirected  effort 
and  fruitless  endeavor.  The  truth,  as  yet  ungrasped, 
should  be  placed  so  temptingly  near  that  indifference  to 
its  possession  shall  become  an  impossibility,  and  earnest 
exertion  a  delight. 

We  do  not  expect  the  blindfolded  child  to  develop 


138  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

useful  strength  or  secure  available  wisdom  by  groping 
with  outstretched  hands  and  tripping  feet  among  mis- 
placed chairs  and  tables,  however  he  may  while  away  a 
few  idle  minutes  for  the  amusement  of  his  elusive  play- 
mates. Nor  is  he  the  wise  tourist  who,  for  the  larger  ex- 
perience, dismisses  his  Alpine  guides,  expecting  himself 
to  find  the  safer  paths  and  the  wider  outlooks,  the  bet- 
ter resting-places,  and  to  gain  the  loftier  peaks.  He  is 
likely  to  return,  however,  if  he  return  at  all,  a  sadder,  if 
not  a  wiser  man. 

A  thorough  knowledge  of  the  subject  to  be  consid- 
ered— much  beyond  the  limits  of  the  lesson — a  knowledge 
of  what  will  be  important  in  the  future,  and  what  forms 
a  mere  stepping-stone  to  what  lies  farther  on,  its  rela- 
tions to  other  topics,  will  greatly  aid  the  teacher  in  guid- 
ing the  eager  pupil  to  the  speediest  and  best  results  ;  will 
save  from  many  a  fruitless  digression,  wearisome  repeti- 
tion, and  empty  recital.  For  the  older,  as  well  as  the 
younger  pupils,  the  proper  method  of  approaching  a  sub- 
ject, the  logic  of  the  exercise,  is  often  quite  as  important 
as  the  facts  to  be  learned.  In  many  cases  the  recitation 
may  well  be  little  more  than  a  reading  of  the  unstudied 
lesson,  with  a  running  commentary  of  the  teacher,  brief- 
ly showing  the  bearing  of  this  or  that  fact,  the  reason  of 
one  statement  and  the  meaning  of  another,  suggesting 
certain  lines  of  thought  and  ready  references  for  their 
better  comprehension.  Here  and  there  a  question  may 
be  started,  perhaps  some  incident  related,  to  quicken  and 
arouse  the  interest  and  thought.  For  this  work,  the 
teacher  needs,  like  the  commander  of  an  army,  to  have 
her  well-trained  powers  and  her  mental  resources  well  in 
hand,  with  perhaps  a  skirmish  line  of  fine  instincts  and 
keen  perceptions,  protected  on  either  wing  by  a  well-as- 
sured confidence  and  a  wise  discretion ;  secured  against 


THE   CLASS  RECITATION.  139 

unforeseen  emergencies  by  a  large  reserve  force  of  general 
information,  ready  wit,  and  close  logic. 

Of  quite  as  much  importance,  too,  she  should  have 
learned  or  discerned  the  character  of  those  with  whom 
she  has  to  do — their  mental  powers,  their  dispositions, 
their  habits  and  modes  of  thought,  their  likes  and 
dislikes.  A  knowledge  of  their  associates,  their  employ- 
ment out  of  school,  their  home-life — all  this  should  be  as 
open  and  plain  to  her  as  the  book  from  which  she  pre- 
pared for  her  work.  She  must  adapt  herself  to  the 
bright,  easy  learner  and  the  duller,  but  it  may  be,  the 
deeper  student ;  to  the  flippant  reciter  and  the  slower 
stammerer ;  to  the  pliant  fawner  and  the  sturdy  inde- 
pendent ;  and  devise  means  to  encourage,  chasten,  and 
direct,  with  an  ever-hopeful  trust  and  kindly  charity  ; 
an  unsuspecting  watchfulness  and  an  unfailing  personal 
interest. 

Sometimes,  too,  the  firm  authority  and  timely  severity 
find  their  true  place. 

The  mere  hearing  of  lessons,  the  asking  of  questions, 
however  scholarly,  and  couched  in  choicest  language, 
with  no  apparent  personal  interest  in  the  success,  the  in- 
dividual welfare  of  the  pupil,  will  not  win  in  this  mental 
conflict. 

How  many  a  young,  earnest  heart  has  lost  its  fond 
ardor,  wearied  of  its  high,  honest  purpose,  and  fallen 
back  into  the  ranks  of  the  careless  and  undeserving,  from 
the  real,  or  supposed,  lack  of  the  teacher's  interest  in  his 
progress.  The  sharp  censure,  so  that  it  come  from  the 
indignant  heart  of  a  friend  at  some  delinquency,  will 
awaken  and  expand  the  young  spirit,  and  fill  it  with 
stronger  purposes  and  better  hopes  than  the  cold  indif- 
ference of  the  calm,  uncaring  critic. 

A  great  barrier  to  success,  too,  cutting  her  off  from 


14:0  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

any  sympathetic  relations  with  her  class,  does  she  raise, 
who  calls  upon  her  pupils  by  the  card,  one  of  those  self- 
imposed  restraints  that  hold  the  hands,  the  hearts,  the 
thoughts  of  the  teacher,  depriving  her  of  much  of  her 
power  for  good. 

No  teacher,  I  think,  can  well  command  the  attention 
of  her  class  who  is  shut  in  to  this  practice  ;  and  no  pupil, 
unless  urged  on  by  some  superhuman  impulse,  can  fix  his 
thought  upon  the  recitation  whose  fate  is  fixed  by  the 
run  of  a  handful  of  cards. 

To  be  interested  he  must  feel  responsible  for  every 
topic  presented,  for  every  question  asked.  But  when  his 
name  has  once  been  drawn,  what  further  personal  inter- 
est can  he  have  ?  And  if,  by  some  chance — as  I  have 
sometimes  seen — he  is  called  upon  a  second  time,  he  has 
a  ready  and  safe  refuge  in  the  reply,  "  I  have  recited 
once."  And  why  may  he  not  be  questioned  a  second,  a 
third  time,  or  any  number  of  times,  when  needful  ? 

Two  or  three  years  since,  after  I  had  discouraged  this 
use  of  the  cards,  one  of  our  active,  working  teachers  came 
to  me  with  the  inquiry,  what  she  should  -do  with  them  ? 
I  told  her  that  the  best  use  of  them  that  occurred  to  me 
was,  to  open  the  drawer  of  her  desk,  quietly  drop  them 
in,  and  close  the  desk.  A  few  weeks  later  she  told  me 
that  she  had  adopted  my  plan,  and  for  the  first  time  felt 
herself  free  to  conduct  a  recitation. 

If  the  pupil's  attention  is  to  be  held,  he  must  feel 
that  he  is  at  any  time  to  be  called  upon  for  an  explana- 
tion, a  correction,  an  illustration  ;  and  every  day,  as  a 
rule,  should  he  have  the  opportunity  to  recite.  Sitting 
silent  and  unnoticed  day  after  day,  he  soon  loses  all  in- 
terest, becomes  listless,  or  restless,  and  ere  long  ceases  to 
prepare  the  lesson  for  which  he  has  no  use. 

Though  it  be  nothing  more  than  a  simple  yes  or  no, 


THE  CLASS  RECITATION. 

he  has  had  his  say,  has  shown  himself  a  living  entity,  and 
goes  home  at  night  with  a  higher  satisfaction  with  him- 
self and  the  school  for  just  that  one  small  word. 

What  an  opportunity,  too,  does  the  recitation  furnish 
for  imparting  information,  for  giving  the  pupil  an  in- 
sight into  the  rich  fields  of  literature,  science,  history, 
and  real  life. 

The  recitation,  as  we  have  said,  is  more  than  a  re- 
hearsal of  memorized  pages ;  it  is  a  discussion  of  sub- 
jects that  have  been  already  carefully  studied.  It  may 
be  that  very  little  attention  need  be  given  to  the  reading 
of  the  text,  which  will  be  already  clearly  understood,  but 
may  suggest  relations  and  conditions  well  worthy  the  con- 
sideration of  teacher  and  pupil. 

The  mere  fact  may  be  nothing  to  the  student,  but  in- 
directly bring  about  results  of  surpassing  interest.  An 
exercise  in  reading  may  suggest  subjects  in  history,  in 
biography,  in  botany,  and  astronomy.  As  an  extreme 
example,  take  Macaulay's  essay  on  "Warren  Hastings," 
found  in  so  many  of  our  readers  : 

"The  place  was  worthy  of  such  a  trial.  It  was  the 
great  hall  of  William  Rufus — the  hall  which  had  wit- 
nessed the  just  sentence  of  Bacon  and  the  just  absolu- 
tion of  Somers  ;  the  hall  where  the  eloquence  of  Strafford 
had  for  a  moment  awed  and  melted  a  victorious  party, 
inflamed  with  just  resentment ;  the  hall  where  Charles 
had  confronted  the  high  court  of  justice  with  the  placid 
courage  which  has  half  redeemed  his  fame.  There  were 
seated  the  fair-haired  daughters  of  the  house  of  Bruns- 
wick. There  the  historian  of  the  Roman  Empire  thought 
of  the  days  when  Cicero  pleaded  the  cause  of  Sicily 
against  Verres,  and  where,  before  a  senate  that  still  pre- 
served some  show  of  freedom,  Tacitus  thundered  against 
the  oppressors  of  Africa." 


142  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

As  mere  words,  one  might  as  well  recite  the  alphabet 
or  the  multiplication  table. 

Who  and  what  were  Macaulay,  Hastings,  William 
Rufus,  Bacon,  Strafford,  the  historian  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  Brunswick,  Cicero,  Verres,  and  Tacitus  ?  What 
did  they  do,  and  why  are  their  names  introduced  here  ? 
What  has  Cicero  or  William  Rufus  to  do  with  Hastings's 
doings  with  the  Begum  ? 

All  this  is  beyond  the  grammar  grades,  and  yet,  with- 
out some  definite  knowledge,  some  fair  idea  of  these 
characters,  wherein  is  it  more  valuable  reading  than  the 
prognostics  of  last  year's  almanac  ?  The  recitation  is  a 
reading-lesson  in  which  the  pupils  should  give  expression 
to  intelligent  thought  and  true  sentiment.  But  the  in- 
vestigation of  all  this  history  and  biography  is  beyond 
them.  The  teacher  must  intervene,  and,  by  a  few 
graphic  touches,  place  before  them  these  pictures  so  viv- 
idly that  they  shall  remain  as  a  part  of  their  mental  con- 
stitution. Nor  is  it  so  difficult  a  task  for  him  who  is 
fitted  for  his  place. 

With  an  almost  inappreciable  inroad  upon  the  read- 
ing exercise,  these  illustrations  can  be  placed  within  the 
pupil's  grasp  as  no  stolid  study  of  cyclopaedia  can  do, 
and  enliven  the  work  with  an  interest  which  no  pro- 
fessional technics  can  impart. 

In  the  reading  of  a  class  are  the  possibilities  of  a  lib- 
eral education,  of  an  art  and  a  culture  beyond  what  the 
graduates  of  high-school  and  college  so  carefully  infold 
in  their  diplomas.  If  we  but  knew  our  opportunities, 
the  professor  of  elocution  and  the  countless  exemplars  of 
what  Delsarte  never  dreamed  of  would  soon  find  their 
occupation  gone,  and  our  boys  and  girls,  instead  of 
thoughtless  mouthers,  would  sometimes  become  intelli- 
gent learners  and  thinkers. 


THE  CLASS  RECITATION.  143 

t 

The  reading-lesson  is  not  to  be  turned  into  a  study  of 
biography  or  history,  nor  are  all  these  allusions  to  be 
learned  at  once.  Enough  can  be  done  to  give  the  char- 
acter of  the  essay  and  inspire  the  class  with  the  spirit  of 
the  matchless  essayist— one  suggestion  here,  and  another 
there,  without  serious  hindrance  or  interruption.  Some 
of  the  characters  can  be  more  fully  studied  at  home  or 
in  the  school  library,  not  indeed  in  any  exhaustive  way, 
but  surely  enough  for  an  intelligent  reading,  enough  to 
awaken  the  desire  to  delve  deeper  into  the  exhaustless 
mines  of  literature  and  to  enlarge  the  pupil's  mental 
horizon  and  prepare  him  for  the  more  thorough  work  of 
his  school-life  and  furnish  some  food  for  thought  during 
the  leisure  hours  of  an  active  or  laborious  life. 

One  of  the  most  accurate  and  scholarly  of  my  college 
friends  told  me  that  he  never  sought  thoroughly  to  pre- 
pare the  whole,  of  a  lesson,  in  Latin,  for  instance,  but 
having  done  enough  for  the  purpose  of  a  fair  recitation, 
he  then  studied  one  or  two  lines  exhaustively.  This 
habit,  long  before  his  college  course  was  completed,  had 
made  him  a  model  for  nice,  discriminating  scholarship. 

It  is  not  often  in  lumps,  in  masses,  that  wisdom  or 
learning  is  to  be  acquired.  The  nuggets  of  knowledge  in 
the  school-room  are  as  rare  as  those  of  gold  in  the  hearts 
of  the  hills. 

The  love  of  learning,  of  knowing,  fortunately,  is  a 
common  inheritance  from  which  few  are  shut  out.  To 
keep  alive  this  love — to  turn  this  curious,  inquiring  nature 
into  the  right  paths,  where  the  search  shall  be  more  sure 
of  the  reward  in  the  speedy  gratification  of  desire  and 
show  something  of  the  relative  worth  of  the  different  ob- 
jects of  desire  and  how  to  distinguish  these,  are  the 
teacher's  work  ;  and  to  lead  the  pupil  to  see  that  small, 
but  continuous  accretions,  from  worthy  effort,  hour  by 


14:4  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

« 
hour  and  day  by  day,  make  up  the  sum  total  of  our 

work. 

And  before  those  little  limbs  are  strong  to  mount  the 
rugged  roads,  or  those  laughing  eyes  have  sadly  learned 
to  discern  the  miry  ways,  shall  we  never  reach  out  a 
friendly  hand,  or  sometimes  even  lift  them  us  the  steep, 
lest  they  dash  their  feet  against  the  stones  ? 

But  are  not  the  lessons  assigned  to  be  learned  ?  and 
how  can  it  be  known  that  they  are  learned  unless  they  are 
recited  ?  If  we  only  could  know  that  they  are  learned  after 
the  recitation  !  The  subject  is  indeed  to  be  understood, 
comprehended,  made  a  part  of  the  pupil's  self — to  be  con- 
verted into  something  that  shall  avail  him  in  his  future 
work.  But  whether  it  is  to  be  learned  in  the  style  of  this, 
or  that  author  is  of  little  importance.  Our  school  histories 
and  geographies  are  generally  but  enumerations  of  a  few 
bare  facts,  some  important  events,  but  even  in  these 
rarely  show,  by  the  relations  of  facts  and  events,  why 
those  mentioned  are  of  more  importance  than  a  thousand 
others  of  which  no  mention  is  made.  Other  authors 
have  expressed  their  views  in  different  verbal  signs  ;  and 
the  pupil,  if  indeed  a  student,  should  give  his  views  in  a 
still  different  form  of  words  more  consonant  with  his  own 
mental  condition  and  delicate  shading  of  thoughts, 
opinions,  and  judgments. 

A  lesson  is  learned  when  the  student  has  a  clear, 
well-founded  opinion  of  the  subject  matter,  but  not 
necessarily  when  the  page  can  be  declaimed. 

The  restriction  of  the  pupil  to  a  single  book  after  he 
is  old  and  strong  enough  to  think,  to  study,  is  a  misfor- 
tune if  the  teacher  is  equal  to  the  place.  From  the 
reading  of  one  text-book  the  pupil  is  liable  to  receive  a 
very  limited,  a  narrow  idea  of  the  subject ;  and  when, 
after  school-days  are  over,  he  falls  upon  a  different  ver- 


THE   CLASS  RECITATION.  145 

sion  of  some  event  he  begins  to  doubt  of  the  wisdom  of 
the  schools,  and  of  authors,  and,  perchance,  to  question 
whether  there  be  any  truth  in  the  world. 

He  should  be  taught  in  school,  in  the  recitation,  to 
compare  different  authorities,  different  mathematical 
definitions,  to  weigh  carefully  the  evidences,  and  to  form 
his  own  judgments  as  to  their  -worth  and  correctness. 

But  can  he,  will  he  do  this,  with  the  cold,  unim- 
passioned  teacher  before  him  at  the  desk,  with  well- 
pointed  pencil  in  hand,  to  enact  the  part  of  the  recording 
angel  upon  his  effort,  with  never  a  sympathetic  tear  to 
blot  the  unhappy  entry. 

The  arithmetic  lays  down  certain,  principles,  with  ex- 
amples enough  for  the  pupil  to  ascertain  whether  he 
comprehends  them.  It  is  for  the  teacher  to  see,  by  the 
use  of  the  same  examples,  or  by  others  involving  the 
same  principles,  if  he  truly  understands  them  aright. 
We  adopt  the  topical  method,  and  place  upon  the  black- 
board a  column  of  a  dozen  or  fifteen  topics  for  each  State 
or  country  —  a  very  paltry  and  belittling  device,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  if  carried  too  far.  The  pupil  should  learn, 
should  have  a  method,  it  is  true,  but  let  him  determine 
what  are  the  important  points  to  be  presented. 

These  points  do  not  always  come  up  before  the  mind 
in  the  same  order,  or  in  the  same  numbers.  Sometimes 
the  water-ways,  sometimes  the  railroads,  now  the  produc- 
tions, and  again  the  scenery,  stand  out  in  distinctness, 
and  should  enlist  the  interest  and  control  the  thought  of 
the  pupil.  To  one  the  civil  development  of  the  people, 
to  another  the  social,  presents  itself  ;  while  again  the 
industrial,  the  commercial,  the  artistic  development 
claims  attention. 

The  dictionary,  the  cyclopaedia,  the  map,  all  find  a 
useful  place,  and  even  the  novel,  the  romance,  present 
11 


146  PRACTICAL   HINTS   FOR  TEACHERS. 

valued  pictures  of  life  and  manners,  and  sometimes  aid 
in  the  solution  of  social  and  political  problems  beyond 
the  scope,  the  possibility  of  the  text-book. 

The  lesson,  as  I  have  indicated,  is  not  something  to 
be  merely  recited,  but  a  subject,  or  subjects,  to  be  studied 
and  investigated  to  which  the  pupil  is  to  give  his  best 
thought  and  best  powers,  that  when  the  hour  of  recita- 
tion comes  he  may  be  prepared  to  take  an  intelligent 
part  in  the  discussion. 

First  of  all,  he  must  learn  to  think,  and  to  express 
himself  in  a  clear,  systematic,  and  logical  way  ;  to  adduce 
facts  to  sustain  his  opinions ;  to  be  ready  with  crayon, 
metaphor,  or  incident  to  illustrate  his  argument.  His 
mental  powers  must  be  aroused,  quickened,  disciplined, 
and  strengthened  for  future  use,  and  for  those  ends  the 
oral  recitation  presents  the  best,  if  not  the  only,  efficient 
means. 

The  written  recitation,  in  such  favor  with  many 
teachers,  is  in  no  true  sense  a  recitation.  It  is  simply 
an  examination,  useful,  nay,  in  a  limited  way,  indispen- 
sable, but  not  a  recitation.  The  real  uses  of  a  recitation 
have  no  play  in  the  written  exercise. 

The  power,  the  personal  magnetism  of  the  teacher, 
and  the  fruitful  suggestion  find  no  place  here.  She  sits 
idle  and  useless.  The  pupil  might  familiarize  himself 
with  the  mechanical  parts  of  a  written  performance, 
might  improve  his  penmanship,  his  spelling  and  accuracy 
of  expression,  but  these  are  the  very  points  that  the 
written  exercise  commonly  ignores.  Shall  a  pupil  in 
geography  receive  a  deduction  from  his  credits  merely 
because  his  spelling  is  abominable  ?  Spelling  is  not 
geography.  Because  he  can  not  paragraph  correctly, 
is  his  knowledge  of  history  diminished  ?  His  punctu- 
ation and  his  capitals  are  problematical,  but  what  has 


THE  CLASS  RECITATION.  147 

that  to  do  with  his  knowledge  of  numbers,  of  personal 
character,  of  climate  and  productions  ? 

The  recitation  should  be  oral,  instinct  with  life,  and 
full  of  interest,  with  an  occasional  examination,  written 
briefly,  carefully,  and  correctly,  with  all  the  elements  of  a 
written  exercise  carefully  noted  and  corrected. 

So  important  a  part  does  the  recitation,  under  the 
skillful  teacher,  play  in  the  school  economy,  that  in  com- 
parison, as  it  seems  to  me,  the  written  examination  is 
nowhere  ;  and  I  am  coming  more  and  more  to  the 
opinion  that  a  pupil  who  has  acquitted  himself  with 
credit  in  the  daily  recitations  should  pass  on  to  the  next 
grade  unquestioned,  despite  any  failure  in  the  stated 
written  examination  of  his  class ;  that  a  class  which  has 
shown  itself  qualified  for  the  work  of  the  grade  should 
on  its  completion  be  passed  to  the  next  grade  without 
the  test  examination. 

The  written  examination,  without  any  intent  or  fault 
of  the  examiner,  may  be,  and  often  is,  outside  the  qualifi- 
cations of  the  pupil.  The  teacher  may  have  erred  in  her 
instructions,  but  should  the  pupils  suffer?  The  principal 
should  be  so  well  acquainted  with  the  quality  of  the  in- 
struction and  the  application  of  the  class  that  it  should 
not  be  possible  for  it  to  come  to  the  end  of  its  grade  work 
without  some  fitness  for  advancement. 

Rarely,  I  think,  should  the  pupil  be  put  down  or 
kept  back  by  a  formal  examination  when  the  daily  reci- 
tations have  been  satisfactory. 

The  examination  is  valuable  chiefly  in  relieving  the 
teacher  from  the  charge  of  partiality  or  prejudice.  I 
have  often  wished  that  pupils,  that  classes,  might  be  pro- 
moted, not  on  the  results  of  any  formal  examination, 
but  on  the  promise  of  their  daily  work  for  future  suc- 
cess. 


PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

No  one,  in  preparing  a  set  of  questions,  can  say  much 
of  their  worth  in  determining  the  scholarship,  the  power 
of  the  pupil.  He  may  strike  points,  important,  indeed, 
but  which  had  been  partially  neglected  by  the  teacher 
in  her  zeal  in  other  directions,  and  the  pupils  will  fail, 
while  exhibiting  a  power  of  thought,  a  skill  in  analysis 
of  character,  a  discrimination  and  judgment  of  more 
worth  than  an  accurate  statement  of  the  facts  involved. 

I  recall  an  instance  in  which  the  pupil  showed  an 
utter  ignorance  of  the  subject  required,  but  at  the  same 
time,  in  admitting  the  disqualification,  gave  such  an  evi- 
dence of  elegant  diction,  of  clear,  distinct  thought,  so 
much  originality,  that  my  better  judgment  would  not 
permit  me  to  pass  any  other  than  a  meritorious  judgment 
upon  her  ability. 

I  have  not  dwelt  much  upon  the  methods,  the  details 
of  the  recitation  ;  these  must  depend  largely  upon  the 
individual  teacher  and  the  subject.  There  is,  I  think, 
no  best  method  for  all  teachers  in  presenting  any  sub- 
ject. There  are  certain  underlying  principles  that  should 
always  direct  and  control,  certain  things  to  be  forever 
avoided. 

Nor  should  the  same  method  be  followed  at  all  times. 
Now  should  come  the  topical  recitation,  in  which  the 
pupil  can  present  his  views  in  some  fullness  and  elegance 
of  language  ;  now  the  quick,  short  question  and  answer  ; 
the  pupil  now  feeling  his  way  along  thoughtfully  and 
carefully,  and  now  prompt  with  the  ready  rejoinder ; 
now  with  the  crayon  in  hand  illustrating  his  descriptions, 
and  again  essaying  the  abstract  argument  in  concise,  dis- 
criminating terms  ;  at  one  time  promptly  and  accurately 
performing  a  prepared  example,  and  again  applying  the 
principles  to  a  problem  with  different,  but  similar  con- 
ditions ;  taking  our  pupils  out  of  the  ruts  of  routine,  and 


THE   CLASS  RECITATION.  149 

leading  them  into  the  ways  of  thought  and  intelligence — 
not  machines,  but  coming  men  and  women. 

But  there  should  always  be  in  all  these  exercises  a 
tendency,  a  nearer  approach  to  a  distinct  enunciation, 
correct  language,  pleasing  tones,  and  plain  reason. 

Nor  is  ease  and  grace  of  manner  to  be  forgotten,  as 
shown  in  rising  and  sitting,  in  walking  across  the  room, 
in  standing,  holding  the  book,  and  handling  the  pointer. 
Little  things  all,  and  not  to  be  made  a  means  of  annoy- 
ing the  pupil,  but  to  be  encouraged,  cultivated,  cherished; 
not  to  be  brought  into  too  great  prominence,  or  regarded 
as  the  absolute  need  of  the  statesman  or  the  successful 
workman,  but  as  attractive  in  the  school  as  in  the  home, 
and  having  a  larger  influence  upon  the  conduct,  the 
character,  than  is  often  imagined,  and  almost  inseparable 
from  those  kindly  relations  between  teacher  and  pupil, 
without  which  no  school  can  attain  to  its  true  position  as 
an  educating,  civilizing  institution. 

When  our  tables  of  statistics  show  us  28,000  in  the 
first  grade,  16,000  in  the  second,  9,000  in  the  fourth,  it 
would  seem  that  we  can  hardly  begin  the  good  work  too 
soon  or  too  lovingly. 

Entering  the  lowest  room,  while  in  those  sweet  child- 
ish tones  come  up  the  simple  words,  "  Where  do  all  the 
babies  go  ? "  I  often  find  myself  involuntarily  coupling 
with  it  the  daisy  line,  "Largely  underneath  the  snow." 
Where  are  the  remainder  of  the  28,000  who  came  to  us 
last  September. 

If  our  pupils  could  be,  from  six  to  fourteen  years  of 
age,  under  the  kindly  care,  and  have  their  recitations 
under  the  wise  guidance  and  inspiring  breath  of  earnest, 
sympathetic  teachers,  such  as  may  be  found  in  our  own. 
schools,  whose  names  answer  promptly  to  my  thought, 
some  whose  faces  have  long  been  familiar  in  our  schools, 


150  PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR   TEACHERS. 

and  some  who  can  count  their  length  of  service  only  in 
months,  this  love  of  knowing,  of  learning  would,  it  seems 
to  me,  be  kept  alive ;  the  eye  would  kindle  at  the  thought 
of  school  and  teacher  ;  the  hand,  the  heart,  the  mind  and 
soul,  would  all  grow  quicker,  stronger,  tenderer ;  more 
sensitive  to  good  influences  and  suggestions,  more  skill- 
ful to  do,  more  hopeful  to  dare,  and  stronger  to  resist 
evil,  truer  to  the  right 

And  where,  with  her  sixty  pupils,  restless  with  young 
life,  glowing  with  childish  ardor  to  do,  to  try,  to  know — 
coming  from  homes  of  penury  or  of  plenty,  but  all  alike 
hungering  for  that  which  shall  respond  to  their  wants — 
where  can  there  be  a  field  of  more  absorbing  interest,  of 
brighter  promise,  and,  to  the  truly  chosen,  of  richer  re- 
ward ?  and  where  should  there  be  awakened  a  deeper 
sense  of  duty  and  responsibility,  brightened  by  a  tinge 
of  higher  hope  and  fonder  expectation,  than  in  the  reci- 
tation room  of  the  public  graded  school  ? 


IX. 

THE  SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL. 

IK  my  efforts  once  and  again  to  emphasize  the  per- 
sonal influence  of  the  class  teacher  in  quickening  the'in- 
tellect  and  developing  the  character  of  the  pupil,  I  have 
neither  lost  sight  of  nor  underrated  the  importance  and 
value  of  that  teacher  of  teachers,  the  school  principal. 

For,  whatever  the  character  or  qualifications  of  the 
assistants,  whether  versed  in  the  details  of  the  school- 
room, or  but  just  essaying  her  untried  powers  ;  whether 
running  her  little  round  of  familiar  and  unquestioned 


THE  SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL.  151 

school  duties,  or  ever  thoughtfully  seeking  for  new  and 
more  fruitful  methods,  still  with  the  principal  will  rest 
the  whole  tone  and  spirit  of  the  school ;  and  its  influence 
in  enlisting  and  uplifting  the  thought  of  parents  and 
people,  or  letting  it  sink  to  a  low  level  of  negligence  and 
thoughtlessness,  will  largely  depend  upon  the  wisdom, 
the  enterprise,  the  intelligence,  the  true  manhood,  or 
womanhood  of  the  principal. 

Many  a  teacher,  I  fancy,  wearied,  worried,  and  worn 
with  the  ever  pressing  and  perplexing  cares  of  the  school- 
room, with  its  inexorable  demands  upon  her  vitality  and 
patience,  often,  in  thought,  turns  her  longing  looks  to 
the  prize  of  a  principalship,  as  a  quiet  refuge  from  care, 
from  infinite  detail,  from  troublous  boys  and  annoying 
girls,  from  wearisome  hours  of  examination  papers  and 
dull  compositions. 

Such  do  sometimes  pass  the  examinations  and  become 
principals,  and  their  influence  is  soon  seen  in  the  dull, 
routine  school,  in  the  easily  satisfied  teacher,  the  memo- 
riter  recitation,  the  unthinking,  careless  pupil,  the  loung- 
ing, slouching,  gum-chewing  boy  or  girl,  who  had  better 
never  have  seen  the  inside  of  a  school-room.  The  teacher 
who  tires  of  her  work,  sees  nothing  but  evil  in  the  hearts 
and  minds  of  the  boys  and  girls,  praying  for  the  calm 
haven  of  rest  in  the  quiet  office,  with  its  revolving-chair 
and  comfortable  lounge,  may,  perchance,  obtain  a  prin- 
cipal's certificate,  but  is  not  wanted  at  the  head  of  one  of 
our  public  schools. 

The  teacher,  even  when  upborn  by  a  deep  love  and  a 
fond  hope  for  her  pupils,  will  often  find  the  hours  weary- 
ing and  wearing  ;  the  vigilance  of  the  principal  must  be 
ceaseless  and  untiring.  The  teacher,  with  her  little  ones 
ever  under  her  eye,  with  ready  discernment  soon  learns  of 
their  childish  ways,  their  natures,  and  their  tendencies, 


152  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

and  how  to  check  their  wayward  fancies  and  thoughtless 
errors,  and  direct  them  into  the  right  paths ;  with  those 
of  maturer  years  and  more  fixed  habits  of  thought  and 
action,  the  principal  has  to  do,  and  become  equally  fa- 
miliar with  their  characters  and  dispositions — a  task  re- 
quiring a  deeper  study  and  a  more  profound  philosophy 
to  perceive  the  real  causes  of  their  success  or  failure  in 
teaching  and  discipline,  and  guide  the  wanderers,  often 
unconsciously,  into  better  ways  and  to  more  assured  suc- 
cess, and  these,  too,  seen  only  at  intervals,  and  for  brief 
periods. 

Instead  of  a  single  grade  of  work,  he  must  be  alike 
acquainted  with  the  entire  course  of  study,  in  its  general 
outline  and  in  its  smaller  details,  as  ready  to  suggest  a 
device  for  the  toddling  of  six,  as  for  the  studious  and 
thoughtful  youth  of  fourteen,  or  even  the  tried  and 
sometimes  trying  teacher  of  untold  years. 

His  is  the  life,  the  impulse  of  the  school,  its  control- 
ling and  directing  power,  its  inspiration  and  its  hope ; 
adjusting  and  harmonizing  its  various  parts,  encouraging 
here  and  checking  there,  making  his  presence  felt  for 
good  by  teacher  and  pupil  at  once,  omnipresent  in  his  in- 
fluence, never  obtrusive,  but  alive  to  the  working  of  all 
the  mental  and  material  machinery  intrusted  to  his  care. 

Nowhere  but  in  the  school-room,  seeing  and  hearing, 
with  keen  observation  and  nice  discernment,  can  this 
knowledge,  this  power  and  influence  be  acquired. 

Meditations  in  the  office  and  theories  worked  out  at 
the  desk  furnish  little  material  to  nourish  the  minds 
and  souls  of  teachers  or  pupils.  There  are  few  things 
more  useless  for  the  furnishing  of  a  school  than  the  office 
principal. 

The  organization  of  the  school,  the  distribution  of  the 
pupils  to  their  several  rooms  under  the  appointed  teachers, 


THE  SCHOOL   PRINCIPAL.  153 

hardly  need  be  mentioned  as  the  first  business  of  the 
principal  ;  and  yet  the  manner  of  its  doing  strikes  the 
key-note,  as  it  were,  of  the  year,  indicating  to  the  ob- 
servant eye  of  teacher  and  pupil  the  character  of  the 
year's  work — whether  it  is  to  be  prompt,  firm,  and  har- 
monious in  its  action,  or  weak,  dawdling,  and  discord- 
ant. 

In  truth,  the  whole  scheme  of  organization  should  be 
clearly  and  definitely  wrought  out  in  the  mind  of  the  prin- 
cipal before  the  opening  morning,  as  far  as  the  conditions 
can  be  known,  with  alternatives  ready  at  his  command 
for  possible  contingencies. 

The  plan  of  the  school  should  be  as  clearly  defined  in 
his  thought  as  that  of  a  coming  battle  in  the  mind  of  the 
commander ;  prepared,  however,  for  this  or  that  move- 
ment, should  the  necessity  occur,  but  ready  with  well- 
digested  devices  arid  ample  forces  in  case  of  any  unfore- 
seen exigencies.  With  wise  and  calm  decision  and 
prompt  action  should  he  put  his  plans  into  operation, 
unruffled  by  the  countless  questions  and  suggestions  of 
pupils  and  parents  ;  every  teacher  in  her  place,  every  pu- 
pil promptly  to  his  seat,  ready  for  the  work,  so  that  al- 
most with  the  morning  bell  the  whole  school  may  start 
off,  like  the  machinery  of  a  vast  factory  at  the  touch  of 
the  lever  that  puts  it  all  in  motion,  with  no  jarring,  no 
friction,  no  undue  tension,  but  quietly,  smoothly,  strong- 
ly, all  in  perfect  accord  for  the  working  out  of  earnest, 
industrious,  well-informed,  self -controlled,  intelligent, 
and  worthy  characters. 

Little  adjustments  may  afterward  be  made  from  day 
to  day,  as  characters  .and  attainments  may  suggest,  but 
by  Tuesday  morning,  at  the  furthest,  the  school  should 
be  in  good  working  order,  with  carefully,  prepared  pro- 
grammes on  the  blackboard,  with  teachers  ready  for  their 


154:  PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

assigned  work,  and  pupils  knowing  their  allotted  parts, 
and  eager  to  engage  in  them. 

With  scarce  forty  weeks  in  the  year,  we  can  not  afford 
to  spend  all,  or  most  of  the  first  week  in  getting  ready  ; 
and  to  whom  shall  we  look  for  the  realization  of  this  pos- 
sible ideal  but  to  the  well-equipped,  the  wisely  experi- 
enced, the  alert,  vigilant,  calm,  high-minded  principal  ? 

If  it  were  true  that  "  we  learn  to  do  by  doing," 
which  it  is  not,  save  in  a  very  narrow  and  limited  sense, 
the  principal's  work  would  now  be  well-nigh  complete, 
and  he  might  sit  back  in  calm  composure  to  observe 
with  silent  satisfaction  the  growing  prosperity  of  his 
school. 

"  We  learn  to  do  by  doing"  is  one  of  those  aphoristic 
half-truths  well  suited  to  catch  the  ear  and  delude  the 
mind  of  the  unthinking.  We  may  acquire  a  mechanical 
facility  by  repeated  doings  of  what  we  already  know  how 
to  do,  but  we  learn  to  do  by  learning  how  other  people 
do,  and  by  the  aid  of  this  knowledge  striving  to  do  some- 
thing better.  The  mere  continuous  doing  of  what  we 
can  do  dulls  the  intellect,  deadens  the  inventive  powers, 
and  stifles  progress.  If  it  were  true,  there  were  no  need 
of  principal  or  normal  school  or  any  school.  Froebel 
and  Pestalozzi,  Mann  and  Hopkins  might  be  put  aside, 
and  our  children  be  left  to  learn  to  do  by  doing,  not  by 
instruction  ;  by  skillful  training,  not  by  study  and  read- 
ing the  wisdom  and  historic  records  of  the  past.  No,  my 
friends,  by  the  mere  doing  the  generations  of  men  would 
not  attain  to  the  school  crayon  or  the  ham  sandwich  in 
a  thousand  years. 

The  whole  past  of  our  race,  with  its  trials  and  its  fail- 
ures, its  sufferings  and  successes,  is  ours,  and  are  we  to 
put  aside  all  the  teachings  of  the  writhing  centuries,  and 
learn  to  do  by  doing  over  again  what  the  ages  have  con- 


THE  SCHOOL   PRINCIPAL.  155 

demned  and  strive  to  reach  by  our  unaided  efforts  what 
the  poorest  laborer  has  as  his  own  ? 

Some  years  since,  to  a  suggestion  of  mine  with  regard 
to  teaching  geography,  the  teacher  replied:  "I  have 
taught  this  subject  in  this  way  for  fourteen  years,  and  I 
think  I  know." 

She  had  learned  to  do  by  doing,  and  was  just  fourteen 
years  behind  the  times.  But  she  still  had  sense  ;  she 
does  not  teach  in  just  that  way  to-day. 

Not  very  much  does  the  best  and  the  brightest  of  us 
learn  but  what  we  learn  from  those  who  have  gone  be- 
fore us.  The  one  thing  that  has  placed  us  in  the  fore- 
front of  our  race  is,  that  when  we  have  learned  one  thing 
we  have  made  it  the  stepping-stone  to  something  better, 
ever  toiling  onward  and  upward  to  the  ultimate  good  of 
humanity,  ever  sought  and  never  reached. 

With  the  organization  of  the  school  the  work  of  the 
principal  has  but  just  begun.  Here  is  the  starting-point 
from  which  he  is  to  advance  to  acknowledged  success  or 
fall  back  into  the  ranks  of  the  called,  but  not  chosen. 

Yes,  my  fellow-teachers,  though  yours  is  the  work,  as 
has  been  my  continual  theme,  and  stronger  and  stronger 
my  belief,  as  the  years  go  by,  the  principal  is  the  school ; 
the  school  is  what  he  makes  it.  The  organization,  the 
plan  of  the  work  is  his,  and  his  the  spirit  that  shall 
animate,  the  methods  that  shall  execute,  and  the  char- 
acter that  shall  control. 

But  what  is  the  power  of  one  over  a  thousand  ?  What 
can  the  principal  do  for  the  individual  pupils  ?  And  yet 
just  here,  I  feel,  is  the  field  of  his  usefulness  ;  not  in 
direct,  personal  influence,  but  largely  through  his  teachers 
must  he  be  made  known  to  them  ;  and  yet  to  no  pupil, 
boy  or  girl,  should  his  entrance  into  the  school-room  be 
an  unimportant  event. 


156  PRACTICAL   HINTS   FOR  TEACHERS. 

To  the  pupils  are  his  best  efforts  pledged,  but  by  his 
teachers  must  his  purposes  be  performed.  With  his  as- 
sistants, by  his  wise  conduct,  his  earnest  purpose,  his 
faithful  discharge  of  duty,  by  his  appreciation  of  excel- 
lence and  worthy  endeavor,  his  recognition  of  merit,  and 
kindly  charity  toward  unintentional  error,  he  must  be  in 
full  and  hearty  accord.  His  censures  should  be  without 
bitterness  or  humiliation,  his  suggestions  timely  and 
sympathetic,  his  personal  interest  undisguised.  The 
strong,  successful  teacher  deserves  his  approval,  and  the 
young  and  inexperienced  his  encouragement  and  advice. 
His  personal  sympathy  in  troubles,  his  aid  in  difficulties, 
and  his  tender  guidance  out  of  the  meshes  of  mistaken 
efforts  will  not  return  to  him  void  of  kind  respect  and 
unfailing  loyalty. 

And  I  have  sometimes  expressed  the  thought  which 
has  wrought  itself  into  my  belief  that  the  principal 
who  can  not  by  his  discretion,  his  nice,  discernment,  his 
thorough  devotion  to  his  school  and  its  duties,  his  in- 
terest in  the  success  of  pupil  and  teacher,  win  the  ap- 
proval and  thorough  respect  of  his  teachers  during  the 
year,  or  at  the  most  the  second  year,  is  sadly  lacking  in 
some  element  of  a  successful  principal. 

They  may  doubt  the  wisdom  of  some  of  his  measures, 
but  only  to  put  forth  the  stronger  efforts  to  conquer  suc- 
cess ;  he  may  meet  with  unmerited  censure,  only  to  unite 
them  the  more  firmly  in  his  defense.  And  he  who  can 
not  command  this  concurrence  of  good  will  and  unques- 
tioning support  of  the  better  part  of  his  teachers  will  find 
his  wisest  art  of  little  avail. 

With  the  consciousness  that  the  principal  is  with  her 
in  her  efforts,  feeble  though  they  be,  there  can  be  no 
foundation,  no  suggestion,  for  the  charge  sometimes  made, 
that  the  teacher  has  no  resource,  no  redress.  She  should 


THE  SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL.  157 

feel  that  he  is  at  hand,  and  but  too  willing  to  render  any 
aid,  ever  ready  with  his  counsel  and  full  support  to  sus- 
tain her,  or  rather  to  enable  her  to  sustain  herself. 

Not  for  every  little  difficulty  and  annoyance  should 
she  fall  back  upon  his  authority  with  paltry  complaints 
and  petty  questionings,  thus  stepping  down  from  her 
true  position,  forfeiting  the  confidence  of  her  pupils  and 
soon  losing  her  own  self-respect.  Few  things  -will  sooner 
deprive  a  teacher  of  her  power  for  usefulness  before  her 
class  than  this  habit  of  sending  pupils  to  the  office  for 
correction.  In  truth  her  highest  usefulness  is  already 
gone  before  the  frequency  has  yet  become  a  habit. 

Quietly,  calmly,  and  firmly,  with  faith  in  herself  and 
in  young  humanity,  unruffled  by  seeming  failure  and 
obvious  reverses,  hoping  still,  must  she  persevere,  trust- 
ful where  trust  is  found — kindly  interest  winning  re- 
spectful love,  and  mutual  regard  finding  expression  in 
willing  obedience,  sympathetic  effort,  and  unfailing 
gratitude. 

Never  in  haste  or  in  anger  should  a  pupil  be  referred 
to  the  office,  and,  save  in  the  rarest  of  cases,  not  till  the 
principal  has  been  seen  by  the  teacher  and  fully  informed 
of  the  nature  of  the  fault  or  failure.  Often  this  confer- 
ence itself  will  render  it  unnecessary  to  send  the  pupil  at 
all. 

But  when  the  need  shall  come,  as  sometimes  come  it 
will,  the  worthy  teacher  should  find  ready  to  her  support 
the  full  authority  of  the  principal,  the  board  of  educa- 
tion, and  the  entire  moral  force  of  the  community. 
With  each  and  every  day  should  the  principal  be  so  well 
acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  teacher's  work  and 
her  manner  of  discipline  and  instruction  that  no  serious 
difficulty  could  come  upon  him  by  surprise  or  find  him 
unprepared  for  the  crisis. 


158  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

What  greater  folly  than  for  a  teacher,  in  a  moment  of 
irritation  or  weak  despair,  induced  by  late  hours,  a  hasty 
breakfast,  or  jangling  nerves,  or,  it  may  be,  by  the  weari- 
ness of  too  severe  study,  to  send  an  offending  pupil  to 
the  office  !  The  principal  is  probably  away  hearing  a 
recitation  or  visiting  a  room.  The  offender  meets  in  the 
hall  four  or  five  companions  on  the  same  errand,  all 
ready  for  a  united  raid  upon  the  teacher's  character,  her 
weakness  of  temper  and  control,  and  listening  with  admir- 
ing glee  to  the  recital  of  his  shrewd  devices  and  their 
success  in  making  the  teacher  mad. 

And  when  by  and  by  they  subside  into  quiet  at  the 
principal's  approaching  footfall,  what  can  he  do  ? 
"  Well,  John,  what  do  you  want  ?"  "  The  teacher  sent 
me!"  "What  for?"  "  I  don't  know  !"  "What  have 
you  been  doing?"  "Nothing!"  "Did  she  send  any 
word  ?  "  "  No,  she  just  got  mad.  I  didn't  do  nothing  ! " 
The  principal  throws  away  a  little  good  but  inappropriate 
advice  upon  him  and  sends  him  back  to  his  room  to  re- 
peat his  deviltries.  And  she  goes  to  bed  in  tears  that  the 
principal  does  not  support  her. 

No  redress  for  the  teacher  !  The  considerate,  fairly 
intelligent  teacher  can  always  rest  in  the  assurance  that 
there  is  no  public  or  private  interest  to  which  the  entire 
people  will  always  give  such  full  and  hearty  support  as 
to  any  reasonable  measures  for  adding  to  the  efficiency 
and  success  and  the  good  name  of  the  public  school,  in 
which  are  centered  their  highest  hopes  and  deepest  affec- 
tions. 

Now  and  then  is  found  an  unreasonable  parent,  it  is 
true,  but  his  unreasonableness  is  not  lessened  by  an  un- 
reasoning teacher. 

My  experience  teaches  me  that  there  is  no  more  fruit- 
ful source  of  the  irritation  and  unreasoning  complaint  of 


THE   SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL.  159 

parents  than  the  frequent  notes  of  .teachers  to  them,  that 
"  the  child  whispers" ;  "your  son  looks  round,  he  laughs"  ; 
"John  makes  a  noise  with  his  feet,  Charles  whistles"; 
"was  tardy  twice  last  week";  "I  caught  Mary  to-day 
writing  notes "  ;  "I  wish  to  have  you  call  and  see  me  to- 
morrow "  ;  "  your  son  can  not  return  to  school  again  un- 
less you  come  with  him  "  ;  "I  told  Fannie  to  stay  after 
school  and  write  her  spelling  ten  times,  and  she  went 
away";  "Harry  pulled  a  girl's  hair,  and  I  wish  you  to 
punish  him — severely  "  ;  "  Willie  asked  to  go  out,  and  I 
found  he  had  been  playing  marbles." 

How  exasperating,  how  destructive  to  the  order  and 
scholarship  of  the  school  any  one  of  these  may  seem  to 
the  sensitive,  earnest  teacher  !  What  sleepless  nights  and 
sorrowing  days  are  hers  !  Oh,  that  she  could  teach  these 
young  and  erring  natures  to  see  as  she  sees  !  And  yet, 
to  the  laboring,  loving,  doting  father  and  mother,  proud 
of  the  bright  spirits  and  active  minds  of  their  children, 
how  paltry,  how  frivolous,  how  petty  it  all  seems  I 

Their  children  are  good  children,  playful,  as  they 
should  be ;  they  mean  nothing  bad  ;  they  wish  them  to  do 
well,  and  they  think  they  do.  "The  school-ma'am  is  a 
crank — that's  what's  the  matter  ;  and  the  principal  isn't 
much  better  or  he  would  put  a  stop  to  all  this  nonsense." 

Fortunately,  no  one  can  send  a  pupil  from  school  for 
misconduct,  for  tardiness,  or  on  an  errand  but  the  princi- 
pal ;  and  I  have  a  growing  belief  that  no  note,  no  letter 
should  be  sent  to  a  parent  which  has  not  been  submitted, 
at  least,  to  the  principal ;  that  no  parent  come  to  the 
school  in  matters  of  misconduct  without  first  of  all  meet- 
ing the  principal.  If  he  deems  it  desirable  to  call  in  the 
teacher,  well  and  good,  but  the  interview  should  be  with 
the  principal. 

Most  of  the  parents  of  our  pupils  are  workers,  and 


1GO  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

the  need  of  calling  at  the  school  means  a  half-day's  pay. 
Almost  all  of  these  troubles  should  never  go  to  the 
parent ;  he  can  do  little  or  nothing.  The  teacher  must 
guide  the  childish  heart  into  prompt,  orderly,  obedient, 
and  industrious  ways,  and  she  is  poorly  provided  for  her 
work  who  has  often  to  call  upon  either  parent  or  princi- 
pal for  the  thousand  little  things  which  stand  in  the  way 
of  the  erring  incompetent's  success. 

The  co-operation  of  the  parent  is  indeed  desirable, 
and  no  worthy  effort  should  be  omitted  to  secure  it,  but 
it  can  never  be  obtained  by  the  repeated  letter  and  the 
frequent  complaint.  These  too  often  result  in  irritation 
and  the  unguarded  remark  in  the  presence  of  the  child 
which  sadly  detracts  from  the  teacher's  authority,  and  is 
the  fruitful  source  of  much  of  the  discontent  and  dis- 
order of  the  school-room.  The  truly  incorrigible  are 
usually  from  families  in  which  an  appeal  to  the  parent 
had  better  have  been  omitted. 

And  when  one  or  two  conferences  prove  unproductive 
of  good  the  principal  had  better  fall  back  upon  his  own 
resources,  nor  further  disturb  the  parental  mind. 

With  the  perfect  teacher,  who  understands  the 
thought  of  the  child,  there  are,  in  my  judgment,  no  in- 
corrigibles  of  sound  mind  ;  with  the  average  teacher 
there  will  be  here  and  there  one  ;  with  the  poor  teacher, 
the  good  pupil  is  the  exception,  and  for  the  most  part  is 
goody-goody  and  dull. 

The  bright  boy,  or  girl,  of  ten  or  fourteen  years,  who 
is  to  make  his  way  in  this  world,  is  full  of  strong,  but 
untrained  activities,  which  unless  grasped  and  guided  by 
the  sympathetic  teacher  will  lead  to  infinite  trouble  in 
the  school-room  and  in  the  home.  From  the  homes  of 
the  rich,  from  the  homes  of  the  poor,  they  come  to  us, 
and  the  wise  teacher  must,  at  the  fitting  moment,  seize 


THE  SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL.  161 

upon  these  vital  forces  and  kindly  turn  them  into  the 
channels  of  truth  and  duty. 

No  sham,  no  cant,  can  impose  upon  the  American 
youth ;  straight,  honest,  honorable  conduct  alone  can 
prevail.  The  youth  has  his  rights  as  well  as  the  man  of 
mature  years,  and  he  understands  fair  treatment  and 
kindly  interest.  And  with  no  corporal  punishment  in 
our  schools,  shall  we  ask  a  parent  to  beat  his  child  ? 

Shall  we  thus  admit  our  own  incompetence,  and  re- 
quest the  parent  to  supply  our  deficiencies  ?  Too  often 
the  severity  of  the  parent  is  the  thing  to  be  deplored, 
and  the  kind  consideration  of  the  teacher  the  one  element 
of  humanity  that  can  arrest  and  save  the  young  heart 
from  destruction. 

But  the  true  work  of  the  principal  is  yet  to  begin. 
The  teachers  and  their  pupils  are  in  their  rooms ;  the 
morning  song  is  song,  and  the  hum  of  busy  life  is  heard. 
And  no  more  trying  time  for  the  young  teacher  can  be 
imagined.  Sixty  young  minds  and  hearts  to  be  interested 
and  secured  ;  sixty  active  bodies,  fresh  from  the  home,  or 
the  street,  to  be  brought  into  harmonious  action,  calmed, 
quieted,  and  controlled.  And  where  shall  she  begin  ? 
Much  of  this  first  day's  work  must  be  helped  out  by  the 
principal  in  seeing  that  this  temporary  initial  work  is 
systematic  and  pleasing. 

The  older  teachers  need  little  aid  ;  they  start  off  with- 
out a  jar,  free  from  friction  or  idleness.  With  the  clos- 
ing bell  they  have  their  classes  well  in  hand,  their  work 
wisely  laid  out,  and  lessons  assigned,  and  with  a  few 
friendly  words  of  wise  counsel,  their  classes  with  high 
purpose,  confidence  aroused,  and  quiet  demeanor  bid  a 
cheerful  good-night  and  depart. 

But  with  the  inexperienced,  who  shall  depict  the 
slowly  passing  hours  ?•  With  no  definite  aim,  ignorant 
12 


162  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

even  of  her  pupils'  names,  with  no  assigned  exercises,  and 
with  longing  thoughts  of  the  high-school  from  which  she 
has  just  come,  and  no  developed  interest  in  the  little, 
loving,  helpless,  dependent  beings  hanging  upon  her 
every  word,  to  which  she  fears  to  give  utterance — here  is 
a  field  for  the  principal,  if  wise,  to  do  his  best  work,  and 
lay  the  foundation  for  the  success  of  his  school,  and  for 
the  most  trustful  reliance,  and  the  surest  support  of  his 
teachers.  Happy  the  principal  who  knows  his  oppor- 
tunities ! 

The  first  temporary  programme  should  early  receive 
his  careful  attention.  No  unimportant  item  is  this  pro- 
gramme of  work,  and  should  not  be  left  to  the  hap- 
hazard guess  of  a  young  girl  who  can  not  as  yet  have 
given  any  special  thought  to  the  machinery  of  the  school 
or  to  the  development  of  the  mind  and  character  of  the 
child. 

The  different  subjects  should  follow  each  other  so 
that  each  may  be  a  change,  a  relief  from  the  preceding ; 
some  should  command  the  freshest,  the  brightest  thought 
of  the  pupil,  while  others  may  require  less  mental  effort, 
and  yet  serve  as  an  incitement,  an  inspiration  to  better 
work.  No  principal  zealous  of  the  highest  success  can 
neglect  the  programme  of  exercises  for  the  several  rooms 
of  his  school.  Upon  their  prompt  preparation  and 
wise  arrangement  depends  very  largely  the  success  of 
the  school  and  his  fitness  for  his  position  as  a  school 
principal. 

The  weary  assistant  teacher  will  be  pleased  to  observe 
that  I  make  no  weak  apologies  for  the  shortcomings  of 
the  principal. 

He  has  accepted  his  position  for  the  performance  of 
certain  and  several  uncertain  duties,  and  is  to  be  held  to  a 
strict  account  for  the  proper  performance  of  such  duties. 


THE   SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL.  163 

Now,  apart  from  his  manifold  duties  of  receiving  and 
classifying  pupils,  must  he  see  that  the  daily  programme 
is  faithfully  carried  out,  that  the  teachers  have  gained  a 
hold  upon  their  children  and  aroused  them  to  the  real 
purpose  of  the  school,  and  are  directing  their  thought 
and  action  into  the  ways  of  growth  and  progress. 

There  are  certain  methods  in  numbers,  in  language, 
which  they  should  follow,  certain  clearly  defined  ways  in 
geography,  in  history,  which  every  teacher  should  know 
and  accept,  and  the  principal  in  these  early  days  should 
by  kindly  counsel  and  timely  suggestion  see  that  the  ap- 
proved methods  and  systems  are  observed,  not  disdaining 
now  and  then  to  take  a  class  himself.  Unfortunate,  in- 
deed, the  school  which  has  reached  a  point  beyond  which 
is  no  improvement. 

The  excellencies  of  every  teacher  and  her  deficiencies 
should  be  well  understood  by  him,  and  with  a  hearty  com- 
mendation of  the  good  and  a  ready  discerning  of  the 
better  elements  of  the  less  successful  and  the  fitting  sug- 
gestion to  remedy  the  defects,  should  the  principal  be 
ever  alert,  ever  courteous,  and  always  reliable. 

To  one  the  word  of  encouragement  is  needed  to 
strengthen  her  weak  spirit,  to  another  must  he  suggest 
some  method  or  device  to  enliven  her  work,and  yet  again 
endeavor  to  impart  the  true  ideal  of  education  and  its 
purpose  to  one  who  knows  and  thinks  of  school  only  as 
the  avenue  to  a  regular  salary  ;  guiding  and  directing  all, 
yet  leaving  always  freedom  enough  for  the  teacher  to  test 
her  own  strength  and  ingenuity. 

In  a  recent  teachers'  examination,  in  answer  to  a 
question  as  to  the  advantages  of  having  a  pupil  complete 
the  grade  under  a  single  teacher,  I  was  not  a  little  sur- 
prised at  the  almost  uniform  statement,  in  effect,  that 
when  a  class  is  promoted  to  a  new  teacher  much  time  is 


164  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

lost  in  a  complete  and  thorough  review  of  the  previous 
work  to  ascertain  what  the  class  knows. 

It  is  a  fact  well  recognized  by  every  principal  of  a 
dozen  years'  experience  that  no  class  in  primary,  gram- 
mar, or  high  school  ever  passes  to  a  higher  grade  more 
than  partially  prepared  for  the  work,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  receiving  teacher.  This  can  be  safely  assumed  with 
no  loss  of  time  in  extensive  reviews  to  learn  it. 

Not  a  day,  not  an  hour,  should  be  thus  employed. 
The  class  has  been  promoted  by  the  principal  upon  what 
he  deems  a  sufficient  test, "and  it  does  seem  a  pretty 
severe  reflection  upon  his  judgment  and  discrimination 
for  his  assistant  to  institute  a  lengthened  investigation 
into  the  fitness  of  the  pupils  for  their  work.  The  princi- 
pal should  make  it  sure  that  the  new  class  enters  at  once 
upon  the  new  work. 

Lookout  Mountain  would  never  have  been  climbed  if, 
after  the  first  successful  assault,  the  surviving  officers  had 
gone  back  to  see  how  far  they  had  got.  It  was  the  impulse 
of  that  success  that  carried  the  brave  boys  up  and  over, 
with  little  for  the  officers  to  do  but  try  to  keep  up  with 
them. 

And  so  should  the  teacher  receiving  a  new  class  avail 
herself  of  that  advance  of  the  pupils  to  go  onward  and 
surmount  the  difficulties  before  them  !  What,  though 
some  expressions  other  than  her  own  are  used  ?  some 
definitions  given  in  a  different  form  from  hers  ?  These 
can  be  .easily  righted,  if  need  be,  as  the  weeks  go  by, 
without  disconcerting  and  discouraging  these  young,  am- 
bitious souls  by  sharp  criticism  of  their  carelessness  and 
negligence,  or  even  their  previous  instruction.  She  may 
profitably  recall  that  at  the  next  remove  her  own  forms 
of  expression  and  statement  are  likely  to  undergo  the 
same  ordeal  from  her  superior  teacher. 


TEE  SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL.  165 

By  the  very  act  of  promotion  the  principal  has  decided 
that  the  class  has  satisfactorily  completed  the  earlier 
grade,  and  should  allow  no  fancied  insufficiency  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  an  immediate,  unconditional  advance  upon 
the  new  subject ;  and  no  teacher  should  for  an  instant 
stop  to  question  the  qualifications  of  the  class.  Every 
new  topic  involves  more  or  less  of  the  preceding,  and  any 
real  defects  can  readily  be  remedied  with  no  discouraging 
halt  or  demoralizing  withdrawal.  Little  interest  do  the 
hopeful  boys  and  girls  find  in  beating  over  the  old  straw, 
and  gleaning  in  already  shaven  fields ;  the  progressive, 
loving  teacher  rather  should,  Boaz-like,  take  them  to  her 
heart  and  share  with  them  the  fullness  of  the  early 
harvest. 

Perhaps  there  is  nothing  in  which  the  guidance  of 
the  principal  can  be  more  fruitful  of  good  results  than 
in  the  arrangement  and  adjustment  of  the  different  parts 
of  his  school,  that  all  by  a  united,  harmonious  effort  may 
move  on  with  a  single  purpose  to  a  common  end  and 
within  the  allotted  time. 

Here  and  there,  it  is  true,  an  exceptional  student 
may  advance  with  quicker  step  and  longer  stride,  or,  per- 
chance, fall  behind  the  movement  of  the  class  ;  but  in 
our  schools  the  average  pupil  should  compass  the  grade 
within  the  year,  and  move  on  promptly  and  successfully 
to  the  next  ;  and  the  graduation  of  a  class  at  an  average 
age  of  more  than  fourteen  or  fifteen  might  well  be  a  sub- 
ject of  investigation  by  the  board. 

A  pupil  who  has  been  two  years  in  a  grade  should  be 
peremptorily  advanced  without  a  question  and  any 
member  of  the  eighth  grade  sixteen  years  of  age  passed 
to  the  high-school  unexamined,  that  they  may  have  the 
trial,  at  least,  of  a  new  teacher. 

Not  till  the  end  of  the  forty  weeks  should  the  princi- 


1(56  PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

pal  wait  to  find  that  the  class  is  not  prepared  to  pass 
grade.  The  work  of  the  year  should  be  divided,  in  his 
thought,  at  least,  into  that  of  months  or  weeks,  as  at  the 
races,  I  notice,  they  time  them  at  the  quarter  and  the 
half,  as  well  as  at  the  end. 

The  teacher  may  easily  be  too  thorough,  too  attentive 
to  minute  details  and  nice  distinctions,  unsuited  to  the 
present  powers  of  the  pupil,  but  which  with  the  nicer 
discrimination  of  a  higher  culture,  will  prove  but  as  a 
pastime  for  his  thoughtful  hours.  One  of  a  wider  read- 
ing and  a  more  extended  view  of  the  worth  of  a  liberal 
education  may  delight  to  lead  the  pupils  aside  into  the 
pleasant  fields  of  learning  and  amuse  them  with  the 
curiosities  of  literature,  science,  or  philosophy.  And 
there  are  those  who  become  so  attached  to  the  little  ones 
committed  to  their  care,  that  they  fain  would  hold  them 
a  little  longer  and  finish  the  beautiful  work  which  no 
one  else,  they  fancy,  can  do  so  well. 

But  it  surely  is  a  mistaken  affection  that  holds  back 
the  pupil  from  the  speedy  accomplishment  of  his  task  ;  a 
false  enthusiasm  that  would  luxuriate  among  the  beauties 
of  a  culture  which  can  be  truly  discerned  only  by  the 
mature  and  finely  trained  mind  ;  a  foolish  pride  or  am- 
bition that  seeks  or  expects  to  know  or  teach  all  of  every- 
thing or  anything.  With  no  uncertain  or  flagging  step 
should  the  classes,  as  the  months  and  years  go  on,  pass 
from  topic  to  topic  and  from  grade  to  grade,  promptly 
and  surely  according  to  the  outlined  course,  with  full 
ranks  and  ever  growing  powers  and  developed  characters, 
under  the  watchful,  wise  direction  of  the  competent 
principal. 

The  examinations,  too,  should  be  within  his  knowledge 
and  control.  I  have  sometimes  heard  the  complaint  of 
principals  that  "the  examination  had  taken  him  com- 


THE  SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL.  167 

plctcly  by  surprise  ;  that  the  class  had  gone  all  to  pieces." 
What  real  room  for  surprise  except  that  he  had  not  him- 
self known  it  sooner  ?  Where  have  been  his  eyes,  his 
ears,  his  thought,  his  untiring  effort  for  the  last  forty 
weeks  ?  Perhaps  in  his  office  considering  how  teaching 
might  be  made  a  profession  ;  possibly  wondering  at  the 
public  depreciation  of  the  worth  of  the  public  school 
and  the  consequent  inadequacy  of  the  principal's  salary  ; 
or  sometimes,  it  may  be,  pitying  the  littleness  of  those 
who  can  be  content  to  attend  teachers'  meetings  month 
after  month  and  year  after  year,  discussing  the  same  old 
questions,  and  labeling  as  new  what  they  have  had  for 
twenty  years. 

He  has  a  poor  teacher  !  Then  it  should  not  have 
been  a  surprise  ;  he  should  have  known  it  before  the  end 
of  the  second  week  ;  should  have  heard  and  known 
whether  they  could  read  audibly,  clearly,  intelligently ; 
whether  they  could  comprehend  a  plain  question  and 
answer  thoughtfully  ;  whether  they  understood  fractions, 
could  compute  interest,  draw  an  outline  map,  get  the 
dimensions  of  a  given  field  without  turning  to  the  book 
for  the  rule,  or  could  avail  himself  of  a  short  cut  to  the 
result. 

The  discipline  should  not  be  suffered  to  become  such 
as  to  make  study  impossible,  nor  the  instruction  such  as 
to  leave  progress  doubtful.  His  influence  should  pervade 
the  poor  room  like  the  sunlight,  filling  it  with  light  and 
warmth  even  into  its  foulest  corners,  that  the  hearts  of 
teacher  and  pupils  may  fairly  glow  with  desire  and  hope 
of  something  better,  nobler.  No  real  examination  should 
be  given  for  which  he  has  not  prepared  or  approved  the 
questions,  which  should  fairly  fill,  but  not  exceed  the 
requirements  of  the  course  ;  and  he  should  be  so  familiar 
with  the  aim,  the  methods,  and  results  of  the  teacher's 


108  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

efforts  that  he  might  safely  promote  a  class  without  a 
stated  examination. 

Few,  very  few,  are  the  teachers,  who  can  not  become 
fairly  earnest,  faithful,  efficient  workers  under  the  kindly, 
wise,  persevering  influence  of  a  worthy  principal. 

The  principal,  too,  should  so  arrange  the  time  of  ex- 
aminations and  promotions  that  there  should  be  no  un- 
certain delay,  but  that  teacher  and  pupil  should  start  off 
strong  and  hearty  for  their  work,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
second  and  third  terms  as  of  the  first,  without  the  loss  of 
five,  ten,  or  fifteen  days,  in  doubt  where  they  are  or  what 
they  are  to  do,  and  with  an  impulse  and  impetus  that 
shall  carry  them  on  with  spirit  and  zeal  undiminished  to 
the  very  end  of  the  year,  till  they  pass  the  line,  as  it  were, 
at  the  end  of  the  race,  with  the  closing  exercises  of  the 
year. 

There  is  no  school,  perhaps,  which  has  not  some 
points  of  marked  excellence,  some  teacher,  unknown  to 
herself,  it  may  be,  who  in  her  wholesome  influence  over 
her  pupils,  in  awakening  interest,  securing  attention,  in 
the  presentation  of  some  subject,  or  in  winning  a  ready 
and  thoughtful  consideration  and  clear  expression  of 
topics  and  judgments,  shows  an  unquestioned  superiority 
in  mental  or  moral  gifts.  There  is,  I  think,  rarely  a 
teacher  who  does  not  present  some  meritorious  indica- 
tions deserving  recognition  ;  at  least  she  may  display  some 
fault  in  common  with  ourselves  which  we  had  not  before 
seen  in  its  true  deformity. 

Not  the  least  important  of  the  principal's  duties  is  to 
perceive  the  excellencies  and  to  promote  their  spread 
among  the  other  teachers,  to  assist  the  contagion  of  good 
and  establish  a  quarantine  against  the  bad.  .  The  good 
of  one  room  should  be  carried  to  all  the  rooms  of  the 
school,  like  the  fertilizing  dust  of  the  flowers,  now  borne 


THE  SCHOOL   PRINCIPAL.  169 

by  the  busy  bee  in  his  search  for  hidden  sweets,  now 
wafted  by  the  floating  insect  in  his  pleasurable  rounds, 
and  now  on  the  soft  air  that  breathes  around  us. 

Let  the  teacher,  weak  in  one  point,  visit  another  who 
there  is  strong,  and  discuss  what  she  has  seen  with  the 
principal ;  let  her  visit  other  schools  and  bring  back  the  re- 
port of  her  experiences.  In  her  own  school  the  principal 
himself  can  take  her  room  for  a  half-hour,  and  for  a  half- 
day  even,  in  her  visits  to  other  schools,  ascertaining  thus 
the  progress  of  her  class,  or  its  deficiencies. 

In  spite  of  the  frequent  complaints  of  poor  teachers, 
they  are  not  all  or  generally  unqualified  ;  they  have  been 
under  able  and  skillful  teachers,  have  passed  a  scholastic 
examination  to  which  many  of  our  successful  teachers 
would  not  care  to  submit ;  they  have  served  two,  six,  ten 
months  under  the  principal's  eye  as  apprentices  or  cadets  ; 
and  if  they  now  fail,  is  it  not  fair,  is  it  not  just  and  right"" 
to  look  for  the  reasons  of  the  failures  in  most  cases  to  the 
principal  ? 

Herein  do  I  find  the  most .  important  part  of  the 
principal's  work  and  a  partial  answer  to  the  question  so 
often  asked,  "How  shall  we  secure  good  teachers  ?"  To 
the  common  reply  of  the  theoretical  teacher  and  peda- 
gogical writer,  that  we  must  have  normal  schools,  I 
desire  to  offer  no  word  of  dissent.  If  all  our  teachers 
could  have  a  good  normal  training  it  can  hardly  be 
doubted  that  the  school  systems  of  our  city,  our  State, 
and  country,  would  be  lifted  to  a  higher  plane,  with  a 
clearer  and  more  life-giving  atmosphere. 

The  normal  school  can  do  much  ;  it  gives  something 
of  the  history  of  education  and  the  work  of  its  great 
leaders ;  teaches  the  elements  of  psychology  in  its  direct 
application  to  pedagogy  ;  leads  its  pupils  to  observe  the 
thought  of  the  child  and  the  working  of  its  yet  unde- 


170  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

veloped  mind,  and  carefully  and  systematically  to  note 
the  results  of  this  or  that  method  ;  it  teaches  its  pupils 
to  think,  to  think  for  themselves,  to  reason  upon  their 
own  closely  observed  facts,  and  to  express  their  thoughts 
clearly,  concisely,  and  freely  ;  it  makes  them  familiar 
with  various  ways  for  interesting  the  childish  heart  and 
opening  up  his  mind  to  the  study  of  the  things  around 
him  ;  and,  best  of  all,  it  inspires  them  with  a  love  of  the 
work,  a  kindling  enthusiasm  that  shall  go  far  to  make 
them  true  students  of  childhood  and  successful  workers, 
at  last,  in  this  noblest  and  most  entrancing  of  pursuits. 

And  yet,  with  all  this,  so  unlike  are  the  conditions  of 
the  normal  class-room  and  the  school-room  with  its 
sixty  embodied  activities  that  the  normal  graduate,  with 
her  training,  her  theories,  her  enthusiasm,  and  her  high 
expectations,  will  at  the  first  prove  a  partial  failure  if 
left  to  herself  without  the  guidance,  the  encouragement, 
the  help  of  the  sympathetic,  the  great-hearted,  capable 
principal. 

Our  good  teachers  must  be  made  largely  in  our  own 
schools ;  sooner  and  better  for  the  fitting  preparation,  but 
in  the  actual  school-room  must  she  learn  to  interest,  to 
instruct,  to  develop,  and  at  the  same  time  to  control  with 
a  quiet,  discerning  watchfulness,  an  easy  grace,  and  an 
ever-growing  power,  and  by  the  aid  and  wise  direction 
of  her  principal. 

Vacancies  in  our  schools  are  of  daily  occurrence.  In 
one  there  are  always  those  below  ready  and  willing  to 
advance  to  the  vacant  place — the  double-division  teacher 
to  the  single  room,  the  cadet  to  the  double-division — all 
alive  to  the  work,  ambitious,  able,  progressive,  with  no 
necessity  for  looking  be}^ond  the  walls  of  the  school. 

In  another,  how  different  the  situation  !  the  cadet  is 
weak,  unequal  to  the  charge  of  a  room,  for  which  a 


THE  SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL. 

supply  is  sought  elsewhere  ;  the  first-grade  teacher  has 
become  acquainted  with  her  duties,  and  shrinks  from  the 
effort  needed  for  a  higher  grade  ;  a  sixth,  a  seventh  grade 
becomes  vacant,  and  the  city  must  be  searched,  the 
country  scoured  for  a  teacher  equal  to  the  place,  while 
the  several  grade  teachers  plod  on  as  before  in  their  old, 
familiar  round,  without  promotion,  without  ambition, 
and  without  meritorious  desert. 

Many  an  excellent  teacher  do  we  draw  from  the  out- 
lying districts  and  from  the  normal  schools ;  but  the 
best,  most  progressive,  most  thoroughly  in  earnest,  and 
successful  schools  are  those  which  make  their  own 
teachers ;  and  from  no  one  thing  would  I  judge  of  the 
worth  of  a  principal  so  confidently  as  from  his  success 
in  converting  these  young,  inexperienced,  but  bright  and 
educated  girls,  into  earnest,  studious,  skillful,  and  invent- 
ive teachers,  ready  at  the  principal's  call  to  take  this  or 
that  position,  whatever  it  be,  with  full  reliance  upon  his 
wisdom  and  discrimination,  nor  standing  upon  any  sup- 
posed or  imaginary  rights  that  may  be  in  the  way  of  the 
best  interests  of  the  school. 

Not  long  since  I  read  in  an  educational  journal  an 
article  upon  school  discipline,  in  which  the  writer  said 
that  "obedience  must  be  immediate  and  absolute."  In 
a  well-ordered  school  the  discipline  should  make  a  small 
demand  upon  the  teacher's  time  or  strength— should  not 
be  as  the  same  writer  states,  "  the  most  painful  part  of  a 
teacher's  work,"  but  kindly,  loving,  winning.  What  more 
pleasing  than  to  observe  with  watchful  care  the  daily 
development  of  the  mind,  the  will,  the  character  ? 
"  Obedience  immediate  and  absolute  "  ?  For  the  soldier 
on  the  battle's  edge— yes  ;  but  for  the  child  with  his  in- 
stincts of  self-hood,  his  budding  reason,  his  untrained 
will,  and  his  intuitions  of  freedom,  the  thing  is  unreason- 


172  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

able,  absurd,  and  impossible.  Which  of  us  can  at  all 
times  control  his  will  or  command  his  attention  to  a  dull 
discourse,  a  stupid  book,  or  an  uninteresting  recital  ? 
Prompt  and  cheerful  compliance,  I  admit;  but  "im- 
mediate and  absolute  "  ?  the  words  savor  of  the  drill- 
master,  the  martinet,  the  tyrant,  the  despot,  rather  than 
of  the  teacher  and  guide  of  youth,  and  are  destructive  of 
all  true  education  and  worthy  development. 

"With  the  quality  of  the  discipline  of  the  school  the 
principal  has  much  to  do ;  the  animating  spirit  that 
shall  give  shape  to  it  all  is  his.  Obedience,  indeed,  is  a 
necessity,  but  an  obedience  based  upon  a  respect  for 
authority  and  an  appreciation  of  good  order  and  regard 
for  a  respected  teacher. 

I  should  probably  be  misunderstood  if  I  should  say, 
as  I  firmly  believe,  that  the  principal  should  always  sus- 
tain the  teacher ;  he  should  make  her  feel,  should  let  the 
pupil  know  that  he  is  with  her,  even  when  in  error,  as  a 
firm  and  faithful  friend  and  support.  And  in  any  un- 
toward event  should  he  kindly  see  her  through  and  out 
of  her  difficulties  before  the  thought  of  censure  has  taken 
shape.  Not  censure,  but  counsel,  should  be  his,  showing 
where  was  the  error ;  how  the  direct  issue  might  have 
been  judiciously  avoided  and  the  insubordinate  pupil  led 
and  lifted  to  a  wiser  way  and  a  higher  life,  where  the 
beauty  of  order  and  the  necessity  of  subjection  to  reason 
and  properly  constituted  authority  would  be  clearly  dis- 
cerned and  gladly  acknowledged. 

The  principal,  too,  has  much  to  do  with  the  mental 
growth  of  his  teachers.  Our  teachers'  meetings  are  of 
necessity  largely  given  to  the  discussion  of  methods,  of 
the  ways  and  means  of  school-teaching.  She  who  would 
make  teaching  a  profession  must  know  of  the  underlying 
principles  of  which  these  methods  are  but  the  flower, 


THE   SCHOOL  PRINCIPAL.  173 

must  make  her  reading  broader,  her  studies  deeper  than 
the  adopted  text-book  and  supplemental  reader. 

The  spirit  of  inquiry,  of  investigation,  and  experi- 
ment should  be  encouraged — a  careful  observation  of 
methods  and  results,  and  the  sound  deduction  of  true 
means  and  methods.  This  rests  largely  with  the  princi- 
pal. The  reputations  of  to-day  are  not  won  in  .the  high- 
school  and  college,  but  in  the  children's  room ;  nor  by 
the  self-seeker,  striving  ever  for  a  higher  place,  but  by 
the  self-forgetful  worker,  who  sees  in  her  little  ones  the 
promise  o'f  true,  upright,  honorable  men  and  women  for 
whom  her  best  is  all  too  little. 

The  thoughts  that  I  have  thus  tried  to  present  are 
not  the  results  of  any  fine  theorizing,  and  hardly  the 
conclusions  of  any  formal  reasoning,  but  rather  a  simple 
record  of  what  daily  comes  under  my  observation.  How 
often  have  I  seen  a  teacher,  a  whole  school,  lifted  from 
the  low  level  of  weak  purpose  and  dead  performance  to  a 
truer  realization  of  the  educational  ideal,  receiving  the 
breath  of  life  from  the  living  principal,  become  earnest, 
faithful,  and  zealous  of  good  work. 

No  longer  are  their  pupils  turned  upon  the  street, 
lost  to  all  hope  or  chance  of  a  worthy  citizenship,  but 
with  an  ever-growing  self-control  and  an  increasing  in- 
terest in  the  studies,  made  attractive  by  a  more  pleasing 
presentation,  are  seen  pressing  forward  into  the  higher 
grades,  perhaps  to  the  high-school  and  college,  and  surely 
to  a  worthy  manhood  or  womanhood. 

And  some,  too,  have  I  distinctly  in  mind  of  bright 
souls  and  of  high  promise  who,  for  the  lack  of  this  in- 
spiration and  upholding,  have  seemingly  parted  with 
their  former  zeal  and  grown  weary  of  their  unrecognized 
efforts,  fill  in  the  slow-going  hours  with  half-hearted 
work  and  ni eager  results. 


174  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

It  makes  little  difference  what  stuff  a  teacher  is  made 
of,  she  can  not  long  stand  out  alone  in  good,  earnest, 
honest,  healthful  endeavor  against  the  blighting  miasma 
of  an  incompetent,  unfaithful,  unreliable  principal. 

The  pupils  themselves  soon  inhale  the  unwholesome 
air,  and  no  longer  respond  to  the  touch  of  her  quickening 
spirit,  grow  careless  of  their  conduct,  negligent  of  duties, 
and  forgetful  of  their  own  good  names  and  the  fair  fame 
of  their  school.  No  investigation  is  needed  to  learn  the 
character  of  such  a  school ;  like  the  darkness  of  Egypt, 
it  can  be  felt. 

We  no  longer  have  the  little  school-house  under  the 
hill,  with  its  single  teacher,  principal  and  assistant  in 
one,  working  out  her  own  success  or  failure  ;  but  each  is 
a  part  of  the  one  great  system.  The  principal  alone  can 
make  or  unmake  it.  The  work,  which  in  part  I  have 
outlined,  no  one  can  do  but  he.  Much  is  asked  of  him, 
but  no  more  than  I  often  see  performed  ;  a  high  ideal  is 
marked  out  for  him,  but  only  because  I  have  witnessed 
its  realization  and  made  it  my  thought. 

It  is  this  that  makes  me  feel,  and  feel  confident,  that 
of  our  seventeen  hundred  teachers  and  ninety  thousand 
pupils  in  our  schools  in  Chicago,  soon  to  be  the  men  and 
women  of  our  country,  and,  I  trust,  her  pride,  many  to  the 
last  hour  of  their  lives  will  look  back  with  loving  hearts  and 
grateful  thoughts  for  the  right  impulse,  the  worthy  direc- 
tion, and  true  inspiration  they  received  at  school  through 
the  wise  control,  the  kind  interest,  and  the  healthful  in- 
fluence of  their  school  principal. 


THE  WOKK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT.  175 

X. 

THE  WORK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT. 

To  many  an  earnest,  enterprising  principal,  wholly  de- 
voted to  the  success  and  progress  of  his  school,  it  douht- 
less  sometimes  occurs  that  if  he  were  left  free  from  the 
limitations  of  the  course  of  study,  unhampered  by  the 
rules  of  the  board  of  education  and  without  the  annoy- 
ing interferences  from  the  superintendent's  office,  he 
could  make  a  truly  good  school. 

And  equally  true  is  it,  I  think,  that  not  a  few  class 
teachers  feelingly  realize  at  times  that  could  they  have 
entire  and  full  control  of  their  rooms,  unmolested  by  the 
questions  and  suggestions  of  the  principal  and  his  fre- 
quent examinations,  she  could  wield  a  power  and  influ- 
ence over  her  loved  and  loving  pupils  that  should  ad- 
vance them  in  learning,  intelligence,  and  moral  strength, 
which  should  insure  their  future  success  in  life,  and 
make  of  them  the  fairest  jewels  in  the  crown  of  her  re- 
joicing. 

But  the  thoughtful  teacher  should  soon  comprehend 
that  to  the  generous  appreciation  and  sometimes  kind 
forbearance  of  the  principal  is  due  much  of  her  present 
success  and  the  opportunity  for  giving  to  her  class  the 
best  she  has  to  give. 

The  visit  of  the  superintendent,  instead  of  an  annoy- 
ing interference,  should  be  looked  forward  to  with  pleas- 
ure, with  the  hope  that  some  useful  remark,  some  timely 
and  suggestive  question  may  give  her  thought  a  wiser 
direction,  afford  some  helpful  aid,  and  awaken  a  deeper 
interest  in  the  pupils,  which  shall  prove  an  inspiration, 
an  encouragement,  amid  the  endless  toils  and  trials  of  a 
teacher's  life. 


176  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

The  rules  of  the  board  are  but  needful  guides  in  di- 
recting the  management  and  work  of  the  schools,  bring- 
ing them  all  into  one  harmonious  whole,  free  from  jar- 
ring discords  and  incongruous  results;  and  far  from  limit- 
ing the  efforts  of  worthy  teacher  or  school,  the  outline  of 
study  may  well  be  the  most  useful  and  efficient  helper  in 
directing  the  endeavor  of  principal  and  teachers  to  the 
most  beneficial  results. 

No  course  of  study  is  the  mere  haphazard,  spasmodic 
effort  of  any  one  man,  but  a  cultured  growth,  the  result 
of  many  experiences,  and  the  combined  thought  and  wis- 
dom of  many  doers  and  thinkers. 

In  carrying  out  this  course  under  the  direction  of  the 
board — judging  from  the  methods  of  our  larger  cities — 
there  seems  to  be  a  wide  divergence  of  opinion  as  to  the 
true  work  of  the  superintendent,  a  matter  the  more  to 
be  deplored,  since  the  fact  of  superintendency  has  be- 
come so  universal. 

Not  only  in  the  cities  and  large  towns,  but  in  the 
counties  and  country  villages,  the  desirability  of  this 
supervision  has  ceased  to  be  a  question;  and  it  is  of  the 
first  importance  that  his  service  should  be  in  the  right 
direction,  if  our  schools  are  to  reap  that  rich  harvest  of 
good  which  alone  can  warrant  the  inevitable  outlay  which 
his  employment  necessitates. 

The  superintendent  has  become  an  important  factor 
in  our  American  schools,  and  if  they  are  advanced  and 
improved,  the  glad  results  are  to  come  from  the  wise 
thought  and  broad  nature  of  the  superintendent,  aided 
by  the  cheerful  and  generous  co-operation  of  principals 
and  teachers. 

The  real,  efficient  supervision  of  the  individual  school, 
with  its  fifteen  or  twenty  teachers,  must  be  made  by  the 
principal,  and  the  principal  alone ;  he  only  can,  by  daily 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT.     177 

or  more  frequent  visits,  know  of  the  work  of  the  teacher 
in  the  different  subjects  and  of  her  influence  over  the 
pupils  with  their  different  characters  and  previous  train- 
ing ;  he  only,  by  happy  hint  and  timely  suggestion,  can 
lead  the  timid,  thoughtful,  earnest  'girl  out  of  her  depths 
of  despond  into  the  light  and  life  of  intelligent,  fruitful 
effort;  he  too  alone  can  best  know  of  the  merits  and  de- 
merits of  the  several  teachers,  their  application,  industry 
and  promptness,  and  their  influence,  through  their  per- 
sonal character  and  instruction,  upon  their  pupils  and 
the  community — the  people  who  rely  upon  them  for  the 
proper  education  and  development  of  their  children, 
their  hope. 

The  principal  is  the  unit  of  the  school  through  whom 
the  superintendent  must  make  his  influence  felt,  and 
without  whose  sympathetic  assistance  not  much  good  can 
come  to  the  school,  the  district,  and  the  ever- waiting 
citizens. 

Not  but  that  many  a  school  without  board  of  educa- 
tion and  superintendent  may  show  earnest  and  faithful 
work ;  that  here  and  there  from  the  little  house  under 
the  hill — like  that  near  which  we  each  had  our  little 
spring  from  which  we  drank  unadulterated  water,  and 
from  the  grove  behind  gathered  the  lady's-slipper,  and 
the  wild  lily  from  the  meadow  in  front,  to  the  disgust  of 
the  mower  whose  scythe  became  entangled  in  the  tram- 
pled and  twisted  grasses — from  such  may  have  come  some 
of  the  foremost  men  and  women  of  our  land.  There,  too, 
is  the  school  at  Rugby,  which  yet  under  Arnold  had 
many  ways  that  would  not  be  tolerated  to-day;  and  Dr. 
Taylor,  of  Andover,  alone  in  his  thorough,  accurate, 
minute  drill,  very  far,  however,  from  the  approved  in- 
struction of  the  present  time.  His  art  died  with  him. 

And,  occasionally,  may  we  find  a  school  famed  for  its 
13 


178  PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

benign,  beneficent  influences,  like  that  of  De  Keren,  at 
Eacine,  whose  personal  worth  and  guiding  mind  were  the 
inspiration  and  the  making  of  many  a  fortunate  youth  ; 
and  that  prince  of  teachers,  Dr.  Hopkins,  with  whom  an 
acquaintance  was  a  liberal  education,  whose  noble  nature 
and  character,  as  transparent  as  his  thought,  with  his 
broad,  deep  current  of  learning  and  noble  manhood, 
made  him  a  master  in  the  world  of  men  and  mind. 

But  Hopkins,  Taylor,  and  Arnold  were  outside  the 
common  minds,  and  not  to  be  judged  by  common  rules ; 
and  the  statesmen  from  the  poor  country  school  became 
such  not  often  from  the  instruction  given,  but  from  their 
own  inborn,  highborn  natures,  great  in  spite  of  their 
limitations. 

An  educated  gentleman  not  long  ago  told  me  of  the 
teacher  who  had  changed  and  made  his  life  ;  not  magnetic, 
not  skillful  as  a  teacher,  who  did  not  know  there  was  such 
a  science  as  psychology,  but  had  that  somewhat  in  his 
makeup  which  impressed  itself  upon  his-  mind  so  as  to 
mold  and  make  his  life  and  his  success  in  life.  And  in 
every  school,  however  poor,  may  we  find  some  teacher 
from  whom  lessons  of  wisdom  and  worth  may  be  learned 
— some  way,  some  method,  some  art,  which  we  would  not 
meet  elsewhere. 

Yet  there  is  no  teacher,  no  school,  that  attains  to  its 
highest  possibilities  alone,  shut  in  from  intercourse  and 
association  with  other  schools  and  other  minds  ;  and  the 
teacher  or  principal  who  feels  secure  of  his  superiority, 
disdaining  the  thought  and  the  work  of  his  fellows,  will 
inevitably  in  some  ways  fall  behind  in  the  race  for  excel- 
lence. His  instruction  in  some  branches,  or  his  modes  of 
discipline  will  and  must  suffer  in  the  comparison  with 
the  work  of  those  whom  he  ignorantly  ignores  and  con- 
temns ;  and  his  methods,  all  original  and  his  own,  will  to 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT.     179 

the  discerning  eye  and  discriminating  ear,  betray  his  want 
of  knowledge  or  appreciation  of  some  unrecognized  dis- 
trict. 

How  many  a  time  have  I  found  the  principal  and  the 
teacher  glorying  in  their  superior  methods  and  wiser  de- 
vices, all  their  own,  when  to  my  mind  came  up  the  pict- 
ure of  other  schools  and  other  rooms,  where,  in  those  same 
lines  of  thought  and  instruction,  a  far  better  work  was 
done,  where  broader  views  and  a  clearer  comprehension 
and  more  useful  applications  were  had  of  the  worth  of 
their  supposed  novel  plans. 

It  is  not  from  any  one  unassisted  mind  that  much 
good,  much  wisdom  is  to  come  or  much  progress  be  made, 
but  they  who  gather  up  the  results  of  many  minds  and 
combine  them  into  one  harmonious  substantial  basis  for 
further  development  are  the  benefactors,  the  true  reform- 
ers of  the  race.  He  who  relies  solely  upon  his  own  pow- 
ers will  ever  leave  some  part  exposed,  some  portion  of  his 
work  inefficient,  some  point  defenseless. 

The  weak  part  of  Achilles  was  not  his  head,  or  his 
heart,  but  his  heel,  yet  it  was  fatal  all  the  same.  "We 
must  be  "  all  for  each  and  each  for  all "  in  a  large,  a  gen- 
erous sense,  if  we  would  do  the  best  for  our  pupils,  our 
schools,  our  city,  or  ourselves,  eager  to  learn  and  ready 
to  impart  with  a  discerning  judgment,  a  wise  liberality, 
and  a  noble  magnanimity. 

•Nor  can  the  superintendent  sit  in  his  office  chair  and 
work  out  the  problem  of  school-life  and  discover  what 
shall  prove  a  blessing  to  the  system.  He  must  have  these 
hours  of  study  and  thought,  but  from  the  living,  working 
school  must  come  the  material  with  which  he  builds,  and 
from  which  shall  proceed  those  plans  and  processes  that 
shall  secure  the  progress  and  well-being  of  our  schools 
and  the  advancement  of  teacher  and  pupil.  The  super- 


180  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR   TEACHERS. 

intendent  may  with  an  active  brain  and  shrewd  skill  de- 
vise his  fine  plans  and  elaborate  his  methods  for  the  pro- 
motion of  his  purposes,  but  too  often  the  first  touch  of 
nature  as  found  in  the  child  or  the  teacher  will  burst  his 
brilliant  bubbles  and  leave  him  wondering  at  the  causes 
of  his  failure. 

It  is  very  little  that  the  superintendent,  unaided,  can 
do ;  little  can  he  outline  in  his  office  that  shall  assist 
them  in  their  efforts  for  instruction,  culture,  or  charac- 
ter ;  rather  in  the  school-room  must  he  with  nice  obser- 
vation, with  keen  discernment,  and  wise  judgment,  ob- 
tain the  knowledge,  wisdom,  and  thorough  understand- 
ing which  shall  enable  him  to  aid  the  unskilled,  direct 
the  inexperienced,  and  rightly  advise  the  untrained  and 
unsuccessful  teacher.  His  office  study  and  his  abstract 
theories  will  avail  him  little,  unless  he  see  and  care- 
fully note  the  earnest,  devoted,  and  sometimes  despairing 
teacher,  as  well  as  the  aimless  and  thoughtless  denizen  of 
the  school-room,  before  their  fifty  or  sixty  restless  and 
bewildering  pupils,  often  ignorant  of  their  language,  un- 
accustomed to  their  ways,  guileless  of  American  thought 
and  American  tradition,  but  who  are  to  learn  to  read,  to 
think,  and  to  talk  in  the  American  tongue,  and  think 
American  thought  and  become  lovers  of  our  city,  our 
country,  and  our  schools. 

No  insignificant  task  is  this  for  the  young  teacher, 
and  no  unworthy  problem  that  which  is  presented  to  the 
city  superintendent.  Much  of  his  time,  I  think,  must  be 
passed  in  the  school  if  he  is  to  be  of  use  in  advancing  the 
work  there  done.  In  a  city  large  enough  to  afford  or 
require  for  the  work  a  corps  of  assistants,  he  may  visit 
less,  but  the  same  result  must  be  attained  through  them, 
and  he,  seeing  with  their  eyes  and  hearing  with  their  ears 
and  thinking  with  their  thoughts,  must  still  continue  his 


THE   WORK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT.     181 

familiarity  with  the  teaching  teacher,  the  studying  and 
reciting  pupil,  and  the  supervising,  instructing,  and  en- 
couraging, directing  principal. 

Less  real  to  him  will  be  the  school-room,  less  vivid 
his  impressions,  less  graphic  his  pictures  of  good  or  un- 
successful work  ;  but  he  may  be  more  than  compensated 
for  this  loss  by  the  more  frequent  observation,  the  nicer 
supervision,  and  the  united  judgments  of  his  assistants, 
and  in  a  careful  comparison  of  their  reported  experiences. 

But,  even  so,  he  can  not  wisely  forego  the  privilege — 
nay,  the  very  aliment  of  his  own  life,  as  a  superintend- 
ent— which  is  to  be  found  only  in  his  frequent  personal 
presence  in  the  school-room,  in  sympathetic  contact  with 
teacher  and  pupils  in  their  daily  and  hourly  endeavor. 

Without  this,  even  the  well-considered  observations 
and  reports  of  his  assistants  will  lose  their  vitality  and 
ofttimes  ineffectual  fall  upon  his  untrained  and  uncom- 
prehending ear. 

One  must,  I  think,  have  seen  something  of  the  up- 
lifted, rugged  hills  and  the  sweet  valley  and  rich  mead- 
ows, with  their  green  fields  and  golden  harvests,  with 
here  and  there  the  forest  and  the  grove,  with  the  rippling 
rills  and  babbling  brooks,  ere  he  can  fully  appreciate  the 
finest  and  truest  description  of  country  and  rural  scenery 
and  life.  He  must  know  the  words  before  he  can  read 
readily  or  understandingly. 

Nor  is  it  as  a  stern  inquisitor,  severe  censor,  or  petty, 
fault-finding  critic  that  the  superintendent  or  his  assistants 
present  themselves  from  time  to  time  in  the  school-build- 
ing, but  rather  as  friendly  observers,  as  kind  advisers,  and 
glad  helpers  are  they  there,  that  by  some  timely  sugges- 
tion, some  suggestive  question,  or  thoughtful  remark  they 
may  lead  the  inquiring,  faithful  teacher  into  better  ways, 
with  wiser  discipline  and  more  fruitful  lines  of  thought 


182  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

which  shall  increase  her  power  and  influence  over  her 
pupils,  make  her  example  more  effective,  and  her  instruc- 
tion more  fruitful  of  benefit  to  herself  and  more  con- 
ducive of  good  to  the  thought,  the  heart,  the  real,  whole- 
some development  of  her  pupils  in  sound  scholarship  and 
well-founded,  self-reliant  characters. 

Free  with  his  words  of  encouragement,  when  needed 
or  when  there  is  room  for  hope — and  few  so  poor  as  to 
deserve  no  word  of  comfort — and  even  to  the  seemingly 
hopeless,  with  whom  no  help  can  avail  much  for  realim- 
provement,  should  his  words  still  be  kind  and  inspiring, 
both  for  her  own  sake,  for  her  self-respect,  and  to  relieve 
the  baleful  pressure,  and  lessen  the  evils  of  her  weak  rule, 
so  long  as  she  and  her  ineffective  measures  shall  endure. 
But  at  the  fitting  time,  when  requested  by  the  commit- 
tee or  the  board,  should  the  superintendent  give  his  firm, 
though  fateful  opinion  of  schools  and  teachers,  with  no 
relenting  regard  for  results. 

Thus  only  can  he  maintain  his  own  self-respect,  or 
long  retain  the  respect  and  confidence  of  those  who  right- 
fully look  to  him  for  information  and  advice,  or  give  to 
the  schools  and  deserving  teachers  that  support  and  en- 
couragement which  are  their  rightful  due. 

The  superintendent  is  no  less  the  confidential  adviser 
than  the  executive  of  the  board,  and  its  members  may 
and  should  command  his  best  judgment  as  to  the  merits 
and  demerits  of  teachers  and  their  qualifications,  their 
claims  for  promotion,  and  for  whatever  concerns  the  in- 
terests of  our  schools  and  teachers. 

Even  to  the  hopeless  one,  as  I  have  said,  should  he  speak 
words  of  kindness  and  encouragement  in  the  interests  of 
herself  and  her  pupils,  upon  both  of  whom  cold  condem- 
nation could  result  only  in  greater  disorder,  poorer  in- 
struction, and  a  greater  multiplicity  of  the  infelicities  of 


THE  WORK  OF  THE   SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT.     183 

a  weak,  harassed,  and  disconsolate  teacher  hopelessly  try- 
ing to  control  and  direct  a  room  of  restless  and  refract- 
ory rebels,  who  have  learned  to  love  disorder  and  to  re- 
joice in  unlimited  and  careless,  because  unchecked  insub- 
ordination and  riot.  And  when,  at  the  end  of  the  year, 
she  is  kindly  informed  that  her  work  is  not  satisfactory, 
that  her  class  has  fallen  below  their  natural  and  expected 
grade,  and  that  her  services  are  no  longer  needed,  why 
should  she  insist  upon  the  injustice  of  her  treatment, 
that  she  has  had  no  notice  of  her  failure,  that  the  super- 
intendent has  always  commended  her  work,  that  she  has 
had  no  suggestion  that  her  efforts  were  not  praiseworthy, 
with  all  that  untold  variety  of  pleading  and  persuasion 
to  which  the  innocent  members  of  the  board  have  to  sub- 
mit from  incensed  relations,  interested  friends,  and  sym- 
pathetic politicians. 

The  superintendent  may  in  some  visit  have  said  : 
"  Your  reading  is  better  than  when  I  was  here  before  ; 
the  order  is  somewhat  improved  ;  that  map-drawing  is 
quite  desirable ;  I  rather  think  you  have  improved  in 
numbers  ;  your  work  in  history  is  not  so  bad  ;  your  geog- 
raphy is  not  such  a  bugbear  after  all,  as  you  thought  it. " 

Possessed  of  any  sensitiveness  or  discernment,  she 
should  have  understood  the  meaning — that  the  reading 
was  poor,  the  enunciation  bad,  the  discipline  disgraceful, 
the  number  work  problematical,  the  history  just  endura- 
ble, and  the  geography  anything  but  what  should  be  ex- 
pected of  a  Chicago  teacher,  and  that  the  superintendent, 
in  a  few  kindly,  thoughtful  words,  had  sought  unnoticed 
to  put  her  upon  a  better  and  more  progressive  way.  If 
the  engineer  is  careless  or  ignorant  of  his  duties  we  do 
not  wait  till  he  has  wrecked  a  train  or  two,  before  filling 
his  place  with  one  of  more  assured  fitness  for  the  posi- 
tion. A  well-trained,  thoroughly  educated  child  is  of 


184:  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

more  worth  than  a  locomotive,  and  a  well-ordered  school 
more  than  a  trunk-line. 

If  the  work  of  the  superintendent  is  upon  this  line — 
and  such  is  stronger  and  stronger  my  belief  as  the  years 
go  by — if  he  is  to  breathe  a  higher,  nobler  life  into  the 
schools,  awaken  a  new  interest,  develop  worthier  motives, 
induce  better  methods,  and  place  teacher  and  pupil  upon 
true  paths  of  progress,  opening  and  enriching  the  sources 
of  health,  happiness,  and  real  wisdom,  the  glad  result  is 
not  to  be  reached  or  advanced  by  any  system  of  stated 
and  rigid  examination. 

Now  and  then,  it  is  true,  at  the  request  of  a  teacher 
or  at  his  own  motion,  if  he  likes,  he  may  conduct  a  casual 
examination  or  hear  a  recitation,  but  all  that  is  merely 
incidental  and  a  very  small  and  unimportant  part  of  the 
superintendent's  work.  A  much  greater,  a  more  valu- 
able service  is  his  than  to  convert  himself  into  a  petty 
examiner  and  figurer  of  averages  and  percentages,  a 
ganger  of  intellect,  growth,  and  character  by  means  of  a 
lead  pencil. 

Such  examinations  are  almost  of  necessity  belittling  and 
narrowing  and  deadening  to  all  true  instruction,  health- 
ful development,  high  purpose,  and  worthy  effort  on  the 
part  of  teacher  and  pupil  alike,  wresting  from  the  teacher 
her  own  individuality,  .the  very  essence  of  her  usefulness, 
depriving  her  of  every  motive  for  broader  culture  and 
self-improvement,  or  for  the  right  education  and  true 
growth  of  her  pupils. 

Her  days  and  nights,  instead  of  being  spent  in  any 
useful  employment  or  diversion,  must  be  devoted  to  the 
conning  and  poring  over  of  old  examination  questions, 
comparing  averages,  and  in  bewildering  wonderment  as  to 
what  is  likely  to  come  next. 

The  welfare  of  her  pupils  is  forgotten  or  neglected, 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT.     185 

and  they  are  made  the  innocent  victims  of  her  incessant 
and  unmitigated  drill  upon  the  worthless  detail  which 
she  dreams,  or  imagines,  may  be  dumped  upon  them  at 
the  coming  of  the  superintendent. 

Such  examinations  may  tend  to  uniformity  of  work  in 
the  different  schools,  but  a  uniformity  of  low  motive,  of 
petty  purpose,  and  paltry  performances,  changing  our 
school  system  from  a  living,  thinking,  feeling,  and  will- 
ing organism  into  a  dead  and  unthinking  machine  whose 
highest  purpose  seems  to  be  to  exhibit  to  the  admiring 
maker  the  regularity  and  precision  of  its  own  move- 
ments. 

What  a  parody  upon  true  education,  natural  develop- 
ment, normal  growth,  and  the  formation  of  character  is 
this  effort,  by  frequent  repetition  and  endless  drill,  to 
prepare  a  class  to  pass  the  superintendent's  expected  ex- 
amination ! 

Uniformity  in  a  system  of  schools  like  ours,  where 
pupils  often  pass  from  one  school  to  another  is  desirable, 
nay,  essential  to  the  welfare  of  all.  But  we  want  not  a 
uniformity  of  low  ideal  and  feeble  execution,  but  a  uni- 
formity of  high  emprise,  of  noble  purpose,  and  grand 
achievement. 

And  the  superintendent,  by  his  quiet  suggestion  to 
teacher  and  principal,  by  his  careful  observation  of  well- 
noted  methods  and  of  praiseworthy  results,  is  to  carry 
the  excellencies,  the  first  fruits  of  the  best,  the  most  sat- 
isfactory, to  the  weaker,  the  anxious,  toiling  teacher,  that 
we  may  be  "each  for  all  and  all  for  each,"  the  wisest 
teachers  profiting  even  from  the  failures  of  the  poorer, 
and  the  poorest  gaining  a  new  power  and  greater  influ- 
ence, and  a  wiser,  firmer  control  from  the  observed  meth- 
ods, the  ingenious  devices,  and  the  ways  to  success  of  the 
most  successful. 


186  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOE  TEACHERS. 

And  the  greatest,  grandest  work  of  the  superintend- 
ent is  to  carry  the  best,  the  wisest,  and  the  worthiest  of 
each  and  every  school  into  all  the  schools,  that  teachers 
and  pupils,  zealous  of  good  work,  may  not  lack  of  the 
nourishment  which  we  have  in  store,  but,  free  from  envy 
and  narrow  rivalry,  with  a  generous  charity  may  receive 
with  thankfulness  every  good,  and  impart  with  cheerful- 
ness, without  any  patronizing  air  of  superiority,  what- 
ever may  serve  to  place  all  our  schools  upon  one  common 
basis  of  progress  and  usefulness. 

It  is  this  intercommunication  between  teachers  and 
schools,  under  the  direction  of  the  superintendent,  which 
alone  can  insure  to  them  all  a  wholesome  life  and  fruit- 
ful progress. 

We,  as  teachers,  do  not  often  realize,  I  think,  how 
little  of  what  we  pride  ourselves  upon,  is  truly  original 
with  us.  We  have  found  one  suggestion  here,  and  an- 
other there,  have  seen  some  device,  read  of  some  plan,  or 
in  conversation  with  others  had  some  thought  or  train 
of  thought  started,  from  which  our  own  views  and  meth- 
ods have  been  enforced  or  improved.  Upon  the  presenta- 
tion of  his  plans  by  any  reformer,  some  dozen,  or  hun- 
dred even,  at  once  start  up  with  the  cry  that  "  We  have 
had  that  for  years,"  which  in  a  limited  sense  is  probably 
true. 

And,  indeed,  with  the  schools,  as  with  almost  every 
industrial  discovery  and  invention — as  in  the  case  of  elec- 
tricity, the  telegraph,  the  telephone,  and  the  ruling  of  a 
copy-book — the  civil  courts  have  to  be  called  in  to  decide 
where  the  credit  belongs.  And  even  the  discovery  of 
America  it  is  vainly  sought  to  ascribe  to  some  forlorn  and 
shipwrecked  Icelander  from  whom  nothing  useful  ever 
came  to  himself  or  the  world. 

Under  the  free  light  of  heaven  civilization  and  educa- 


THE   WORK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT.     187 

tion  alike  advance,  like  the  coming  of  spring  from  the 
south,  with  a  common  movement  along  the  whole  line,  a 
little  retarded  here  and  there  by  some  hinderance,  some 
opposing  breaths,  temporarily  delaying,  but  not  prevent- 
ing the  gladsome  budding  and  blossoming  of  the  plants 
and  trees. 

Those  of  you  old  enough  to  remember  the  old  solemn 
New  England  parlor,  opened  only  on  occasions  of  mar- 
riage, death,  or  the  annual  Thanksgiving,  can  readily  re- 
call the  condition  of  the  close,  musty,  confined  air  of  the 
sacred  place.  And  many  a  younger  heart  can  probably 
find  on  memory's  tablet  the  picture  of  a  school  or  school- 
room, needing  no  aid  from  without,  sufficient  unto  itself, 
but  which  to  one  familiar  with  the  real  movement  of  the 
age,  fell  like  the  stifling  atmosphere  of  the  old  parlor, 
killing  all  joyful  life,  all  present  improvement,  and 
awakening  the  kindly  wish  that  some  stray  fresh  breeze 
might  sweep  through  and  vitalize  those  poor,  self-suffi- 
cient souls. 

Sometimes  the  visiting  superintendent  may  chance 
upon  the  school  or  teacher  seemingly  insensible  to  the 
onward  movement,  or  solemnly  resisting  his  efforts  to  se- 
cure a  better  development.  The  negligence,  inaccuracy, 
and  the  slouchiness  which  he  meets  in  September  or  Oc- 
tober boldly  face  him  again  in  December,  in  March,  and 
in  June.  His  hints  and  his  suggestive  advice  have  fallen 
upon  deaf,  or  unwilling  ears,  and  produced  no  percepti- 
ble results. 

But  happily  the  hinderance  is  not  forever,  the  great 
tide  of  warmth  and  life  with  added  force  at  last  sweeps 
on  and  over  the  opposing  obstacle,  covering  the  land  with 
beauty  and  gladdening  the  heart  with  fragrance,  flower, 
and  fruitage. 

But  in  the  far  more  frequent  cases  he  finds  the  teacher 


188  PRACTICAL   HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

or  the  school  failing  of  the  best  or  best  directed  effort 
or  desired  results,  and  with  a  word  of  counsel  departs 
fondly  hoping,  yet  sometimes  doubting  of  the  outcome, 
nor  often  finds  his  hopes  wholly  belied. 

The  word,  or  the  thought  which  he  had  dropped  had 
taken  root  in  a  living  mind,  been  nurtured  with  zealous 
care,  watered,  it  may  be,  with  tears,  and  he  now  surveys 
with  gladness  a  well-directed,  industrious  class  in  full 
harmony  with  an  earnest,  interested,  and  smiling,  happy 
teacher — happy  in  the  consciousness  of  her  inspiring  in- 
fluence over  her  studious  and  admiring  pupils,  whom  she 
had  formerly  met  with  a  feeling  of  dread,  if  not  repul- 
sion, as  incorrigible  dolts  or  rebels,  but  from  whom  to-day 
she  would  part  with  sorrow. 

The  pupils  may  not  be  richly  clad,  but  they  will  have 
cleaner  hands,  more  orderly  desks,  and  a  less-littered 
floor. 

No  fancy  sketch  is  this,  wrought  out  in  the  study, 
but  a  faithful  record  of  not  long  past  experiences,  and 
one  of  my  most  hopeful  encouragements  and  fullest  satis- 
factions. 

We  are  not  all  born  teachers,  any  more  than  poets, 
but  an  earnest  cheerful  heart,  with  willing,  sympathetic 
endeavor  and  unfailing  hope,  can,  under  wise  counsel, 
bring  a  worthy  success  within  the  reach  of  a  large  ma- 
jority of  intelligent  and  cultured  men  and  women. 

To  the  superintendent  from  his  wider  and  more  varied 
observations  of  school-life  than  the  most  active  and  keenly 
observant  principal  can  have  comes  the  frequent  reminder 
of  little  ways  and  doings  to  which  he  can  not  close  his 
mind  or  heart,  or,  in  justice  to  our  own  schools  and  him- 
self, as  well  as  to  our  wiser  and  more  successful  teachers, 
refrain  at  proper  times  from  alluding.  The  teacher,  per- 
haps from  always  having  to  do  with  inferiors  in  years  and 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT. 

attainments,  from  always  being  in  authority  over  others, 
instead  of  dealing  with  equals,  very  naturally  and  easily 
falls  into  the  habit  of  saying  and  doing  those  things  which 
no  one  would  think  of  employing  with  one  of  you  or 
with  me. 

A  pupil  may  steal  a  bite  from  an  apple,  perhaps,  during 
a  dull  recitation,  and  the  teacher  remarks  that  he  must 
have  had  a  poor,  sorry  breakfast.  His  parents,  perhaps, 
are  poor,  and  the  ever-sensitive  boy,  stung  to  madness  at 
having  his  poverty  thrown  in  his  face  in  the  presence  of 
his  mates,  angrily  retorts,  "  I  guess  I  had  as  good  a  break- 
fast as  you  did,"  and  he  is  sent  to  the  principal  for  pun- 
ishment. But  was  he  not  in  the — I  was  going  to  say  in 
the  right  ?  No,  not  right,  but  wholly  wrong,  but  not 
nearly  so  guilty  as  his  teacher.  Another  partially  fails  in 
a  recitation.  "I  wonder  what  school  you  came  from  ?" 
sneers  the  teacher.  "  From  one  quite  as  good  as  this," 
conies  the  fitting  and  almost  inevitable  response  from  the 
high-spirited  and  gallant  lad.  Now  a  pupil  comes  in  a 
few  minutes  late  for  the  afternoon  session,  and,  of  course, 
is  sent  up  for  correction.  The  principal  finds  that  he  had 
been  kept  in  for  an  hour  at  the  close  of  the  morning  ses- 
sion, contrary  to  specific  instructions,  and  had  not  time  to 
go  home  and  return.  Who,  in  the  name  of  justice,  but 
the  teacher  is  the  proper  candidate  for  suspension  ? 

But  I  need  not  multiply  real  or  supposed  instances 
of  this  petty  wrong-doing.  You  can  all  supply  them 
from  memory  or  experience. 

Alas,  for  this  authority— or  the  consciousness  and  show 
of  authority — which  has  chilled  the  heart  of  many  an 
otherwise  humane  teacher,  placing  him  or  her  upon  that 
lofty  pedestal  of  assumed  and  false  superiority  around 
which  breathe  no  soft  airs  of  kindness  or  courtesy  ! 

A  gentleman  was  telling  me  the  other  day  of  his  son, 


190  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

a  bright,  courteous,  possibly  mischievous  little  fellow,  who 
said  that  he  always  lifted  his  hat  to  his  teacher,  but  never 
received  any  recognition.  The  father  told  him  he  had 
better  not  do  it  any  more.  What,  think  you,  was  the  prob- 
able thought  of  the  proud  little  gentleman  as  to  the 
character  of  his  hitherto  respected  teacher,  and  what  the 
possible  effect  upon  his  conduct  in  school  and  his  future 
life? 

And  it  is  my  solemn,  well-founded  conviction  that  in 
a  large  majority  of  the  cases  reported  to  the  principal  or 
the  superintendent  of  impertinence,  impudence,  and  in- 
solence on  the  part  of  boys  or  girls,  the  teacher,  in  thought- 
lessness or  malice,  has  been  the  aggressor,  by  some  ill- 
timed  or  sarcastic  remark,  and  is  the  one,  and  only  culpa- 
ble one,  who  should  have  been  sent  to  the  principal,  the 
superintendent,  or  the  board  of  education.  I  recollect  but 
one  such  case  during  my  twenty-odd  years  in  the  high- 
school,  to  which,  with  a  moment's  pause,  I  made  no  reply. 
But  at  the  close  of  school  I  quietly  noticed  that  the  cul- 
prit lingered  at  his  desk,  seemingly  arranging  his  books 
and  papers,  till  all  the  rest  had  gone,  when  he  came  up 
with  a  frank,  gentlemanly  acknowledgment  of  his  error, 
and  never  again  offended.  Nor  do  I  recall  many  names 
of  pupils  referred  to  me  for  insubordination,  when  I  have 
not  been  obliged  to  blush  at  the  name  of  teacher,  upon 
learning  the  occasion  of  the  trouble.  The  intelligent 
pupil  does  not  wantonly  insult  a  respected,  kindly  teacher. 
So  many  rooms  do  I  know  where  the  school-life  runs  on 
in  kind  and  courteous  harmony,  with  the  spirit  of  indus- 
try and  improvement  beaming  on  every  face,  with  no  out- 
ward emblems  or  apparent  show  of  authority,  no  harsh 
words  or  stinging  reply,  but  pupil  and  teacher  kind,  court- 
eous, and  respectful  to  each  other — like  friends  in  pleasant 
intercourse  or  engaged  in  some  loved  pursuit — alike  in 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT. 

the  districts  of  the  poor  and  the  rich,  that  hardly  a  day 
of  my  life  goes  by  without  some  "confirmation"  of  my 
belief,  "strong  as  proofs  of  Holy  Writ." 

This  simple  lifting  of  the  hat,  this  grateful  look  of 
recognition  to  a  pupil,  though  in  the  primary  grades,  goes 
further  toward  securing  his  respect  and  confidence — 
toward  making  the  true  man  and  woman — than  many  a 
lesson  in  geography  and  arithmetic,  and  is  one  of  the  best 
aids  in  making  instructions  in  geography  and  arithmetic 
effectual.  And  surely  the  teacher  can  ill  afford  to  be  less 
respectful  and  courteous  to  her  pupils  than  she  would 
have  them  be  to  herself  !  The  golden  rule  is  quite  as  efn-  v 
cacious  in  the  school-room  as  on  the  street  or  on  the  ( 
boards  of  trade,  in  advancing  the  welfare  of  man,  as  well 
in  his  childhood  as  in  his  age. 

The  bravest  are  the  tenderest. 

Next  in  importance  to  this  work  of  promoting  the 
growth  and  development  of  good  teachers  in  our  own 
schools,  the  surest  proof  to  the  superintendent  of  the 
efficiency  of  a  school,  and  of  his  own  success,  is  the  selec- 
tion and  proper  assignment  of  those  teachers  whom  our 
ever  increasing  enrollment  makes  it  needful  to  employ. 
In  a  small  town  or  for  a  single  district  piratical  raids  into 
the  surrounding  country  might  be  made,  by  promise  of 
higher  place  or  better  pay  bringing  away  their  brightest 
and  best.  But  with  our  many  schools,  in  all  of  which 
we  have  an  equal  and  undivided  interest,  we  can  ill  afford 
to  prey  upon  each  other  ;  and  I  know  of  nothing  more 
to  be  deprecated  and  condemned  than  for  a  principal  of 
one  school — by  notice  of  a  vacancy,  by  sly  suggestion,  or 
intimation  of  interest  and  affection — to  awaken  a  restless- 
ness in  a  teacher  of  another  school,  leading  or  inducing 
her  to  seek  a  transfer  to  himself.  Transfers  are,  indeed, 


192  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

to  be  made,  on  account  of  distance  or  fitness,  but  of  this 
the  superintendent  should  judge  in  the  interests  of  the 
teachers  and  the  schools. 

With  the  throng  of  applicants,  young  and  old,  for 
positions,  the  teachers'  examination  seems  a  necessity, 
for  the  protection  of  the  members  of  the  board,  as  well 
as  of  the  superintendent.  This  examination  may  show 
little  of  fitness  for  the  position  of  teacher,  but  it  does  in- 
dicate one  important  element — some  degree  of  scholar- 
ship. 

"When,  in  the  high-school,  I  used  sometimes  to  say — 
and  even  now  do  not  think  that  I  was  whol]y  wrong — 
that  for  an  assistant  I  would  prefer  a  young  graduate  of 
superior  attainments,  of  good  promise,  and  pleasing  pres- 
ence, to  almost  any  other ;  scholarly,  ambitious,  agree- 
able, progressive,  not  yet  hardened  into  a  stolid,  self- 
sufficient  routiner. 

This  fine  scholarship  is  of  prime  importance  in  the 
high  and  in  the  grammar  schools ;  and,  perhaps,  one  of 
the  weakest  points  in  our  schools  to-day  is  the  lack  of  a 
broader,  more  accurate  scholarship  in  the  higher  grades 
for  instruction  in  history,  geography,  arithmetic,  gram- 
mar, and  literature. 

For  some  ten  years,  in  my  examinations  for  a  teach- 
er's certificate  or  for  admission  to  the  high-school,  I 
have  given  one  question  calling  for  the  syntax  or  con- 
struction of  certain  words ;  and  to-day  a  very  large  ma- 
jority of  the  candidates  apparently  do  not  know  the 
meaning  of  the  word  syntax.  They  will,  in  answer,  per- 
haps name  the  parts  of  speech,  go  stumbling  through. the 
old  humdrum,  common  noun,  third  person,  singular 
number,  neuter  gender,  and  objective  case,  but  not  one 
word  touching  syntax. 

The  distinction  between  common  and  proper  nouns, 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT.     193 

singular  and  plural,  could  be  learned  in  fifteen  minutes 
had  it  not  been  done  already  in  the  second  grade  ;  gender 
is  of  no  use  whatever  in  English  nouns,  any  more  than 
person. 

All  this,  I  say,  has  been  done  and  finished  in  the  sec- 
ond grade ;  and  why,  in  the  name  of  all  that  is  precious 
for  the  fair  unfolding  of  sunny  childhood  and  bright, 
happy  youth,  our  pupils  should  still  be  held  down  to  this 
perfunctory  farce  called  parsing,  I  confess  passes  my 
comprehension  and  staggers  the  imagination. 

And  I  could  devoutly  pray  that  henceforth  never 
might  a  good,  honest,  unoffending  English  word  be  sub- 
jected to  the  torture  and  rack  of  that  old  parsing — com- 
mon noun,  third  person,  etc.  And  it  is  my  earnest  hope 
and  sincere  desire  that  in  future  examinations  Chi- 
cago candidates,  at  least,  may  know  what  is  meant  by 
syntax,  and  not  foist  off  upon  me  that  ridiculous  and 
mummified  formula  for  parsing.  Our  children  ask  us 
for  bread,  and  we  give  them  a  stone. 

Individually,  I  believe  that  the  interests  of  the  public 
school  would  be  advanced  if,  without  an  examination,  a 
certain  percentage  of  the  graduates  of.  our  high-schools 
and  normal  schools — nor  would  I  exclude  the  real  col- 
lege— could  be  admitted  to  our  lists  upon  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  principals  or  presidents  of  such  institutions, 
based  not  upon  scholarship  alone,  but  upon  character  and 
true  worthiness.  The  principal  knows  more  of  the  cult- 
ure, promptness,  perseverance,  the  capabilities,  and  moral 
influence  of  the  pupil  than  any,  the  fairest  examination 
can  give  us. 

This  method,  I  believe,  would  supply  us  with  teach- 
ers of  wider  culture,  of  finer  instincts,  of  higher  general 
intelligence,  and  a  deeper  devotion  to  the  welfare  and  in- 
struction of  the  almost  countless  little  ones  that  crowd 
14 


194  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

our  schools  than  is  possible  by  any  other  method.  And 
I  believe  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  nothing  less  than 
a  high-school,  normal,  or  college  graduate  of  advanced 
scholarship,  good  address,  and  courteous  manners,  and  a 
heartiness  for  the  work,  will  be  admitted  to  the  teacher's 
desk  in  our  public  schools. 

The  members  of  the  board  of  education,  with  their 
business  or  professional  duties,  can  not,  and  should  not, 
be  expected  to  know  much  of  the  school-room  work  of 
many  teachers  ;  nor  can  the  superintendent  merely  of 
his  own  observations  intelligently  meet  the  demand.  He 
must  largely  rely  upon  the  visiting  superintendents,  his 
assistants,  for  his  knowledge  of  the  school- work  of  in- 
dividual teachers. 

Thus  re-enforced,  he  is  the  only  one  who  can  in  many 
cases  act  intelligently  and  wisely  for  the  system  in  its 
entirety.  By  his  advice  and  suggestion  should  promotion 
to  places  of  honor  and  influence  with  corresponding  emol- 
ument be  made.  A  sad  day  would  it  be  for  our  own,  or 
any  system  of  schools,  if  ever  personal  influence  or  indi- 
vidual favor  should  place  the  undeserving  or  unworthy 
in  positions  of  increased  responsibility  and  remunera- 
tion. 

Such  unmerited  advancement  does,  and  ever  must,  de- 
moralize to  a  greater  or  less  extent  the  teaching  force  of 
our  schools,  leading  the  ambitious  worker  to  feel  that  pro- 
motion depends  not  upon  faithful  and  successful  service, 
and  filling  the  hearts  of  the  earnest,  ever  dutiful,  and  de- 
serving teacher,  with  distrust  and  well-founded  discourage- 
ment. 

No  higher,  holier  trust  can  be  reposed  in  any  board  or 
body  of  citizens  than  this  of  furnishing  cultivated,  refined, 
worthy,  and  successful  teachers  to  our  public  schools,  upon 
which  so  largely  depend  the  intelligence,  the  character, 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT.     1Q5 

the  aspiration,  and  the  hopes  of  those  who  are  so  soon  to 
control  and  direct  the  social  and  moral  forces  of  our 
loved  city. 

Under  the  direction  of  the  board,  upon  the  judgment 
of  the  superintendent,  based  as  it  is  upon  his  own  observa- 
tion and  the  carefully  compared  and  united  advice  of  his 
assistants,  should  all  advancements  be  made,  and  any  gen- 
eral departure  from  this  course  can  only  result  in  a  weak- 
ening of  our  teaching  force,  a  neglect  of  vital  interests,  a 
letting  down  of  our  higher  ideals,  and  a  disastrous  effect 
upon  our  public  schools.  Nor  can  the  principals'  asso- 
ciation and  grade  institute  be  overlooked  in  this  outline 
of  the  superintendent's  work  and  influence.  Through  the 
principals  largely  must  the  superintendent  reach  the  teach- 
ers and  the  schools.  His  more  important  directions  to 
teachers  may  well  be  reported  to  the  principals.  Many  a 
thought  and  useful  device  may  be  given  to  the  individual 
teachers,  but  his  visits  are  too  brief  and  infrequent  to  effect 
much  unassisted.  On  the  principal  must  he  rely  to  see 
his  thought  made  fruitful,  his  devices  utilized,  and  his 
recommendations  given  opportunity. 

In  the  principals'  association  the  prime  questions  of 
management  can  be  discussed  and  the  methods  of  instruc- 
tion given  a  thoughtful  hearing,  and  the  attention  directed 
to  those  points  demanding  special  consideration. 

The  grade  institute  almost  of  necessity  is  chiefly  given 
to  methods — the  ways  and  means  of  carrying  on  the  daily 
work  of  the  school-room.  With  two  hundred  new  and 
inexperienced  teachers  each  year,  even  to  hold  our  own, 
without  any  advance,  many  an  old  direction  must  be 
repeated. 

I  have  long  and  often  tried  to  devise  a  plan  by  which  S 
our  inexperienced  teachers  might  be  brought  together  two  1 
or  three  times  a  week  and  instructed  in  the  principles  of 


196  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

education,  in  what,  with  a  little  strain  of  the  imagination, 
might  be  called  psychology — some  knowledge  of  the  child- 
mind,  and  how  to  increase  this  knowledge,  how  to  impart 
information  and  make  it  abiding — how  to  quicken  inter- 
est, secure  attention,  cultivate  perseverance,  and  promote 
close  study  and  fruitful  investigation. 

Through  these  institutes  should  the  superintendent  be 
brought  into  closer  and  more  familiar  relations  with 
teachers  and  principals,  and  from  them  should  flow 
influences  for  good  into  every  school  and  every  school- 
room, that  all  alike,  with  an  intelligent  purpose,  might 
unitedly  direct  their  thought  and  their  endeavor  to  the 
one  object  and  end  desired — to  the  making  all  our  schools 
pleasing,  profitable,  and  progressive — onward  all,  with  no 
unfortunate  lingerer  left  behind. 

In  arranging  for  the  work  of  the  several  assistants  in 
our  own  city  it  has  seemed  preferable  to  make  the  division 
by  districts  rather  than  by  grades — by  vertical  rather  than 
horizontal  planes — as  the  work  of  each  grade  is  so  closely 
related  to  the  preceding  and  following  grades,  and  can  be 
more  wisely  supervised  and  directed  by  one  who  knows 
both  what  has  been  done  and  what  is  to  follow. 

It  seems  desirable,  too,  that  each  assistant  superintend- 
ent, as  far  as  possible,  should  at  least  once  visit  all  the 
schools,  that  the  board  may  have  the  benefit  of  their  sev- 
eral opinions  upon  the  merits  and  demerits  of  teachers  and 
schools  as  well  as  that  the  instruction  may  be  essentially 
uniform  throughout  the  city  and  each  enjoy  the  advan- 
tages of  all. 

Each  assistant  superintendent  goes  forth  clothed  with 
the  full  authority  of  the  superintendent's  office,  and  though 
not  so  abundant  in  works,  should  be  as  truly  interested  in 
the  success  of  the  schools  in  one  part  of  the  city  as  in 
another,  with  no  desire  to  improve  one  at  the  expense  of 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  SCHOOL  SUPERINTENDENT.  197 

another,  but  with  a  willingness  to  preserve  and  promote 
an  equality  of  benefits. 

And  in  any  observed  faults  or  deficiencies  in  matters 
of  instruction  each  should  feel  perfectly  free,  without  fear 
of  encroaching  upon  another's  domains,  or  conflict  of 
authority,  to  use  his  best  wisdom  and  effort,  by  counsel 
and  direction,  for  the  good  of  each  and  every  school. 

To  the  merely  material  work  of  the  school,  the  con- 
struction, furnishing,  and  repairing  of  school-buildings, 
important  as  these  are,  the  superintendent  should  give 
little  of  his  time  or  his  thought.  All  this  can  much  bet- 
ter be  left  to  the  committees  of  the  board,  familiar  with 
business  and  business  ways. 

And  what  nobler  monument  to  any  man's  unselfish 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  schools  and  the  public 
could  be  raised  than  some  of  our  later  structures,  perfect 
in  their  appointments,  their  lighting,  heating,  and  venti- 
lation ?  And  to  no  public  interests,  I  think,  will  our 
citizens  contribute  more  cheerfully  of  their  substance 
than  to  any  needful  provision  for  the  education,  the 
health,  and  the  physical  as  well  as  mental  development 
of  their  children. 

At  the  late  meeting  in  Nashville  a  prominent  member 
of  the  National  Association  said  that  the  first  requisite 
for  a  good  school  was  a  good  school-building  ;  and  yet  by 
far  the  greater  part  of  those  who  sat  around  him  on  the 
platform  as  the  honored  fruits  and  worthy  exemplars  of 
the  public  school  had,  I  believe,  received  their  early  edu- 
cation in  the  much  decried  little  country  school-house  by 
the  road  side,  sometimes  shaded  and  shielded  by  a  pop- 
lar or  a  maple,  and  more  often  exposed  to  the  glaring 
gleam  of  the  summer  sun  and  the  bleak  blasts  of  the 
wintry  winds. 

No,  my  friends,  the  superintendent  has  higher  duties 


198  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  TEACHERS. 

than  the  laying  of  brick  and  mortar  and  the  construc- 
tion of  sidewalks  and  sewers.  He  should  know,  of  course, 
of  the  condition,  the  fitness  or  unfitness  of  the  buildings, 
where — and  none  so  well  as  he — new  buildings  are  need- 
ed, and  where  the  means  and  appliances  for  good,  effect- 
ive instruction  are  wanting,  and  should  be  able  and  ready 
to  report  to  the  board  of  education  what  additional  fa- 
cilities are  needed,  but  always  giving  of  his  best  thought 
and  his  best  endeavor  to  the  advancement  of  our  schools 
in  sound  learning,  healthful  development,  and  well- 
grounded,  self-controlled,  consistent  characters. 

And  I  believe  that  there  is  no  influence  for  the  uplift- 
ing and  forwarding  of  our  schools  more  potent  than  that 
of  a  superintendent  relying  upon  the  support  and  confi- 
dence of  the  board  in  his  wisdom  and  integrity,  despite 
some  errors  of  judgment,  laboring  ever  to  recognize  the 
deserving,  to  aid  the  striving  but  yet  unsuccessful,  and 
to  eliminate  the  unworthy. 

He  it  is  who,  with  the  board  of  education  back  of 
him  to  review  his  action  and  enforce  his  approved  in- 
structions, can,  with  the  hearty  co-operation  of  principals 
and  teachers,  give  a  new  life  to  our  schools,  in  the  mean- 
ing and  spirit  of  the  rules  carrying  out  the  essentials  of 
the  course  of  study,  and  guiding  our  schools  into  the 
ways  of  healthful  growth,  true  progress,  and  genuine  de- 
velopment, making  them  the  nurseries  of  a  wise  educa- 
tion and  virtuous  habits,  an  incentive  to  individual  effort, 
and  the  crowning  glory  of  our  city. 


THE  END. 


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